


I Can't Say I Love You

by Skelitzel



Series: Rewind [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Timelines, Angst ish?, Character Death, Fluff, Forgotten Love, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Heartbreak, I've decided on an "ending", It's not a happy one, Jealousy, Pacifist Route, Sans is a good brother, Sibling Rivalry, Unrequited Love, but also lots of fluff, he isn't coping well, it's a roller coaster of love and heartache, lots of feels :(, or at least is trying to be, some blood, some drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5222153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skelitzel/pseuds/Skelitzel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...but oh how I want to...</p><p>This story occurs after sans and the reader admit their love for the first time in the previous timeline. Reader has forgotten sans and Papyrus is obliviously caught in a love triangle with his brother. sans doesn't want to hurt him, but can he let you go?</p><p>Reader character has only attempted Pacifist routes so far, but has not made it to The End in any iteration.</p><p>Alternate timeline that occurs before Rewind and Replay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jealousy

*Chapter written from sans' POV*

“hey papyrus whatcha doin?” you yawn from the couch as you watch your brother frantically run around the house valiantly dusting and sweeping any unwelcome dust bunnies invading your home.

“NOT NOW SANS! I HAVE TO MAKE EVERYTHING PERFECT FOR MY DATE! THIS HOUSE IS FILTHY AND YOUR DAMN SOCK IS STILL ON THE FLOOR!” he grumbled and picked it up and shoved it under your bedroom door.

You chuckle and flip through some more channels, “sounds nice bro, who’s your hot date?”

He leaps over the banister and lands in the living room, and pivots gracefully towards the kitchen. As he furiously scrubs the countertops he shouts, “WITH THE HUMAN OF COURSE!”

You drop the remote in surprise. Again? “you’ve already had a date with them remember?”

Papyrus sighs, sounding slightly annoyed, from the kitchen, “YES AND IT WENT VERY WELL AND THE HUMAN ACCEPTED MY INVITATION FOR A SECOND! HONESTLY SANS YOU’RE SUCH A BONEHEAD SOMETIMES.”

You stare at the T.V. without really seeing it. It’s fine really. You should be happy for him. Generally the kid just kept a platonic relationship between the two of you and moved on. Even when they ended up dating Papyrus through some misunderstanding, they usually left off laughing and agreeing the friend zone was the best. The kid had been through what? 12? 14 timelines by now?

Same old thing each time. They came. They laughed. They ate bad spaghetti and left. You’d check on them now and then throughout their journey, and try to help them when you could but something would happen and the world would be reset.

Same easy friendship every time. The kid made the nightmare of the world repeating a little easier. You looked forward to seeing the kid laugh at the same dumb jokes you always told. But last time. Last timeline you…

“i uh have to go to work.” you say standing up abruptly. 

“WHAT? YOU JUST HAD WORK SANS.”

“it’s um different…work.” you shuffle toward the door, not wanting to see his worried face.

Last timeline you had felt something more.

“SANS WAIT! YOU’RE BEHAVING STRANGELY. YOU’RE NEVER THIS EAGER TO GO TO WORK!” 

You hear Papyrus’ footsteps approaching from behind but you quickly make it to the front door. You yank it open and jump in surprise. Last timeline you had admitted-

The human lets out a startled squeak and gazes at you with wide eyes. In one hand they’re holding a box of spaghetti noodles, and the other hand raised about to knock on the now open door. A cinnabunny was hanging out of the kids mouth, it’s left ear clenched between their teeth.

You both stare at each other blankly for a moment as the moment of surprise fades away. You open your mouth to speak, but surprisingly, no words come.

The human giggles and tears the bunny away from their mouth, “You scared me sans! Thanks for such a nice welcome though! I didn’t even have to knock!” The human nods happily, “Less effort for me. I like it.”

You can’t help but stare at the cinnamon sugar on the corner of their mouth as they talk. With lips you know are soft and sweet and feel so good pressed to your skull. You slightly snap out of it when the kid offers you a bite.

“uh, what?” you say a little short.

The kid frowns, “What’s the matter? Something on my face?” A small pink tongue darts from within their lips and licks up the sugar and you suck in a breath and feel yourself falling into a trance once more.

“HUMAN YOU’RE HERE! SANS DON’T BE RUDE! INVITE THEM IN.” Papyrus shouts from behind you making you jump again.

“s-sorry bro, i just can’t cinnamon to think straight.” you let out a low chuckle.

The kid grins and offers the one-eared cinnabunny to Papyrus and he nips off the other ear as he grumbles at your terrible joke. The kid turns to you, “Were you going somewhere? I was going to show Papyrus my grandma’s spaghetti recipe tonight.” They winked and your chest thrummed for a moment, “I promise it’s really good.”

Papyrus loops an arm around them and pulls them inside the house, “IT MAY BE GOOD BUT NOT AS GREAT AS MY MASTERPIECES. BUT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS HAPPY TO SHARE AND IMPROVE OTHER’S RECIPES AS WELL.”

The kid rolls their eyes as Papyrus leads them too the kitchen. They pause for a moment, “Where were you headed?”

“just work.” you say weakly and the kid looks a little disappointed.

“Well don’t push yourself too hard. Wouldn’t want you to work yourself down to the bone.” They grin, eyes bright with pride at their pun.

You chuckle quietly, “yeah i suppose that’s true.” You can’t bear to look at them in the face anymore, and cast your gaze to the door.

“HUMAN! I REQUIRE MY SOUS CHEF! COME TO THE KITCHEN RIGHT NOW!”

“Coming Paps!” the human calls to the kitchen in a singsong voice and heads towards him.

You grit your teeth as a wave of jealousy washes over you. It’s quickly followed by shame and self hatred. It wasn’t right to feel this way. It wasn’t fair. No one else knew about the timelines but you. Maybe this was how things were really supposed to happen. You pull the hood over your skull and step out into the snow. You really needed to cool your head. Papyrus was a pretty cool brother, and you loved him dearly.

It was wrong to feel envious toward what he had. It wasn’t the kid’s fault for forgetting you either. Each timeline was different than another; even if many were similar. Still, each timeline you learned more about the kid. The sound of their voice. The music of their laugh. The light of their smile.

You wanted Papyrus to be happy. You pull your hood further over your eye sockets as you slowly made your way to Grillby’s.

You’d do anything you could to make sure he was happy.

Even if it meant losing the one that made you happy.


	2. Tickle Fight!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so sorry the first chapter was so short! This completes the initial set up of my idea for an alternate timeline with the reader and Paps. Let me know if you would like this continued further :)

“So what did you think Paps?” You settle into the couch next to Papyrus as he searches for something to watch while your body tries to readjust to digesting a normal plate of spaghetti.

“IT WAS ALRIGHT I SUPPOSE. ALTHOUGH I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU REFUSED TO USE THREE CANISTERS OF SALT AND ONE OF CINNAMON.” He sighs, and the lights of his eye sockets roll.

You giggle, “I guess my grandma just had a different sense of…taste.”

He snorts, “WELL MY SENSE OF TASTE IS FAR SUPERIOR, BUT IT WAS ADEQUATE.”

“Hey!” You squint your eyes at him, “That wasn’t very nice.” and you poke him in the ribs.

“ACK!” He shrieks and jumps a few inches off the couch. Hm, that was a bit more of a reaction than you were expecting. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his skull, “D-DON’T DO THAT AH-AGAIN HUMAN.”

You grin impishly, “Oh? Why not?” and waggle a finger towards him again and he shrieks adorably again and pushes himself into the corner of the couch.

His cheekbones suddenly glow with a slight pink tint, “IT UH…” He shifts his gazes to the floor, “TICKLED…”

Ah, so skeletons can be tickled. You store this bit of information in the back of your mind to be used for evil later.

“Oh I see.” You lean backwards in the couch and adjust your body to face the T.V. Papyrus breathes a loud sigh of relief and finally settles on a movie.

Oh what the hell? Let’s use it now!

You wait until the opening credits are done rolling before you pounce. You shout the battlecry of your people, “Kyaaah!!!” and pounce. Your torso is leaning over a very startled Papyrus, and you giggle mischievously, your fingers dancing along his ribs through the thin fabric of his shirt. He squirms and squeals underneath your attack, trying to not jump too much for fear of knocking you off the couch or breaking you.

“HU-HUMAN! ST-STOP IT!” He’s having a hard time sounding firm and confident between the giggles and squeals. You move your fingers up to tickle the vertebrae of his neck when suddenly his eye sockets flash with a serious light. He clasps your upper arms firmly in his boney hands and holds you still, “THAT’S ENOUGH.”

You swallow, your previous bravery washed away as your teasing came to an abrupt halt. The look in his eyes was almost deadly. Your heart started to pound in your chest. You open and close your mouth a few times trying to think of something to say, to get yourself out of trouble.

Then, Papyrus’ glowing eyes took on a mischievous gleam of their own, “NAUGHTY HUMAN. I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT AND YET YOU DID IT ANYWAY.” He clicks his teeth thoughtfully and his eyes drift to stare at something across the room, but the sound is quieted by your heart pounding in your ears. He turns his gaze on you again and your heart stops “I THINK YOU NEED TO BE PUNISHED.”

“Wha-“ you start to say but Papyrus pushes you down on your back onto the couch. He grabs both your wrists in one of his boney hands and pins them above your head. He waggles the boney fingers of his other hands in front of your face and smiles evilly at you. “Wait! Hold on Paps come on! I-i was just playing around!”

He tuts and taps you on the nose, “NO YOU WANTED TO PICK A FIGHT. AND I THE GREAT PAPYRUS DO NOT LIKE LOSING.” His skeletal hand descends upon your abdomen and begins wiggling and lightly pinching your stomach and sides.

You try to wriggle away and squeal in protest, but his hand has you firmly pinned down, “Papyrus! This isn’t fair! You’re stronger than me!” The tickling intensifies as he finds that pinching your waist makes your body squirm even more and he chuckles, “Let me go!” Tears of laughter start to leak from your eyes and your abs start to feel tired but you can’t stop laughing. 

His fingers stroke up and down your sides and he grins, “WELL SURELY THAT IS NOT MY FAULT HUMAN. YOU WERE FOOLISH IN PICKING AN OPPONENT FAR STRONGER THAN YOU.” He tutted again by clicking his teeth as he lightly ran his fingers along your neck, clearly enjoying the squeal that escaped your lips, “IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOU CHOSE A BATTLE YOU CAN’T WIN.”

“Mercy! Mercy! Paps! I yield!” You cry out as your gasp for breath. Graciously his hand releases your wrists and the tickles stop. You gulp large breaths of air and feel your weight sink into the cushions, staring up at the ceiling. You feel so tired now. All that forced laughter really took it out of you. You reach up to wipe a tear from your eye, but Papyrus beat you to it.

Still leaning over you, his smooth phalange wipes the tears from your eyes and strokes your cheek, “I DIDN’T HURT YOU DID I?” His voice laced with worry.

“No.” you breath in shallow breaths, “‘M good.” You wave your hand tiredly, “Happens.” Gasp. “When humans.” Gasp. “Laugh.” Agh your lungs are useless. “Too much or too long.” You manage to groan out the last of your answer and return your focus to normalizing your breathing.

 “I SEE.” Papyrus says thoughtfully, still leaning over you, skull cocked to the side as he watches you curiously. “HUMAN?” he asks shyly once he’s noticed your breathing has started to steady.

“Yeah?” you respond a little weakly.

“I’VE UH BEEN READING A LOT OF DATING HANDBOOKS. IS THIS A MOMENT WHERE I WOULD BE ALLOWED TO APPROACH YOU FOR A FIRST KISS?”

Oh great. The burning in the muscles of your torso had finally started to go away after all the forced flexing and now it was being replaced by an intense burning in your face. You had let your vision blur as you stared up at the ceiling to calm yourself, but you flicked your eyes to meet the gaze of a very anxious skeleton.

“Um-“

The front door burst open and a rush of cold air filled the room, making your head jerk up. Unfortunately your startled mind forgot there was a skull right above your forehead.

WHACK!

“Son of a-!” You curse under your breath and clutch you throbbing head in your hands. Papyrus, unharmed and oblivious, gracefully leaps off the couch and holds out his arms to greet his brother.

“SANS!” he chatters excitedly, “YOU’RE HOME! HOW WAS DIFFERENT WORK?”

You were able to focus your pain-hazed gaze onto his brother and you thought you saw something odd. The lights in sans’ eyes flickered between Papyrus, and you on the couch. He looked…tormented? You blinked and his face was back into his normal, cheesy grin. You shrug, must’ve just been a trick of the light. Or maybe you hit your head too hard. You sit up slowly as he answers his brother.

“didn’t go.”

“WHAT?! YOU WERE IN SUCH A RUSH TO LEAVE FOR WORK AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN GO?!” Papyrus stamps his foot childishly, “HOW CAN YOU BE SUCH A-A”

“lazybones?” sans yawns out with a shrug, and heads to the fridge. He pulls out a banana, “i guess it just didn’t a-peel to me today.” He smirks and takes a bite and Papyrus mutters under his breath. 

You giggle and sans’ eyes seem to flash a little brighter at the appreciation of his pun. “Where did you go then?” You ask with polite curiosity as Papyrus stomps back to the living room and plops down onto the couch next to you.

He sighs and throws the peel away, “just grillby’s.” 

“Oh.” you try to not take it personal. It’s not like he knew you had planned on cooking dinner for the brothers tonight.

He seemed to read your thoughts and smiled softly, “sorry kid. i’m sure your grandma’s recipe was great. i’ll have to tri-cep it some other time.”

You shake your head and smile and get comfy on the couch. sans walks across the living room and heads towards the stairs. “Wait!” you say. He hesitates with one foot on the step and turns to you with brow bone raised (some how). “Um…Do you wanna watch the movie with us?” You ask shyly. He just seemed so…lonely.

He chuckles quielty, “nah i’m ok kid, thanks though.” He yawns and heads up the stairs, using the banister to pull himself up the steps, “i’m bone tired, and i gotta get to bed.”

You watched his retreating form until it disappeared behind his bedroom door and chewed your lip. Papyrus carefully rested his boney arm on the couch cushions behind your back, so his radius was lightly touching your shoulder. He was watching the door as well.

“THANK YOU FOR BEING KIND TO MY BROTHER.” He said, eye sockets still on the door, “HE-HE HAS A LOT OF SADNESS WITHIN HIM. I’VE TRIED TO HELP HIM BUT HE DOES NOT WISH TO TELL ME WHY HE FEELS THIS WAY.”

You smile at Papyrus and lean into his arm, and he looks back at you, “Well I hope that he sees me as a friend especially since I’m dating his brother.” You winked.

Papyrus’ cheekbones glowed pink again, and he sputters, “W-WOWIE HUMAN! I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KISS YOU NOW.”

“Too bad.” You say and stick out your tongue and turn your attention to the forgotten movie. 

He grumbles and you cross your arms and chuckle to yourself. 

This was a fight you could win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah that was super cheese. Don't judge me >.>


	3. Language

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after I wrote this I realized it kind of seems like sans' is cockblocking his brother. I hadn't intended it to be that way but if you want to interpret it that way you're more than welcome to XD. I meant it to be more of he just shows up at awkward times. Maybe he's not that great at being the selfless brother he wants to be?

“So what does this puzzle do again?” You shiver against the cold, your bum starting to freeze to the boulder underneath you, as you swirl random lines in the snow with a stick, watching Papyrus.

He sighs, “THEY’RE SWITCHES THAT CHANGE SHAPE WHEN YOU STEP ON THEM. YOU STEP ON THE X’S TO MAKE THEM O’S. ONCE YOU DO THAT FOR ALL OF THEM THEN YOU HIT THAT SWITCH OVER THERE AND THE SPIKES GO DOWN.”

“I see. That sounds pretty simple.” You smirk.

He snorts, “OH BUT IT ISN’T. YOU CAN ONLY STEP ON THE SWITCHES ONCE OR THE WHOLE THING IS RUINED. IT’S PERFECT FOR CAPTURING HUMANS!”

“I got through it ok.” You tease.

He glances at you and winks, “YES I SUPPOSE, BUT I STILL CAPTURED YOU.”

You blush and look back down at the lines drawn aimlessly in the snow. After a moment you watch him strain and sweat as he attempts to move one of the switches, but it’s stuck firm in the ice. “What are you doing now?”

He sighs, frustrated, “I’M TRYING TO REALIGN THESE SWITCHES TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE!”

You giggle, “But why would you wanna do that?”

He stands up again, proudly striking his fist to his sternum, “WHY WOULDN’T I? THE GREAT PAPYRUS’ FACE IS MAGNIFICENT AND WOULD MAKE THIS PUZZLE EVEN BETTER!”

You roll your eyes at him as he seems to glow with pride. “Alright, bone boy, you need to cool down.” You push yourself off the boulder and stretch. 

Papyrus seems to have decided the switches are perfect where they are, but wants to test them to make sure none are broken. He starts to walk through the solution when an idea perks up in your mind. You quickly run over to the button to the left and jump on it, resetting the entire puzzle and Papyrus is surrounded by X’s. You sprint back to your spot near the boulder.

“HEY!” He exclaims and whirls around to glare at you, and you do your best to mimic a face of innocence.

“What? I was here the whole time. I think your puzzle is broken.” You grin.

He points at your tracks leading to the switch and back, exposing you in your lie. Aw man come on snow! Why you gotta sell me out like that? I thought we were cool….heh heh…cool.

“IT IS NOT KIND OF YOU TO LIE TO ME HUMAN!” He puts his hands on his hips and shakes his head, disappointed.

“Aw come on Paps don’t be like that.” You pout.

His eyes glow with a strange light. In a flash he scoops up some snow and hurls it at you. It hits you in the chest and you gasp in surprise. “What was that for?!” You exclaim.

He doesn’t respond, but instead vaults over one of the boulders separating you and scoops up some more snow, a wickedly childish grin on his face. You squeal and run away, ducking your head as more snowballs fly by.

You’re both laughing and screaming as snowballs fly through the air. You manage to catch Papyrus on the shoulder with one, but he throws them much faster than you. You end up ducking and diving for cover more than trying to retaliate. Eventually he corners you and tackles you to the ground. The snow is so deep it envelopes your body on either side, and all you can see is Papyrus above you. He straddles your waist and his cheekbones are starting to glow pink.

Your mind is slowly becoming less and less aware of the freezing ice pressed up against your back as he starts to lean in closer to your face. You hold your breath as your face seems to burn up. You can’t move. Your heart is pounding in your throat as his face leans closer and is barely an inch from yours.

A chuckle comes from somewhere to your right. “and you call me lazybones? i’ve never taken a nap in the snow bro.”

Papyrus jumps up and exclaims indignantly, “SANS! I WAS NOT NAPPING! I’VE BEEN WORKING ON THE PUZZLES ALL AFTERNOON.”

You can’t see sans due to the snow that surrounds you, but you can hear the smirk in his voice, “uh huh. but isn’t the puzzle waaay over there?”

Papyrus has stepped over your body and is now standing on your right side near your legs, his back facing you. He crosses his arms, still defensive, “YES IT IS. I’M SURPRISED YOU KNOW THAT CONSIDERING YOU NEVER WORK ON ANY OF THE PUZZLES.”

His brother doesn’t seem to mind, “then why are you all the way over here bro?”

Papyrus suddenly beams, “WHY I’M PLAYING WITH THE HUMAN OF COURSE!” He steps to his side and turns his body towards you, gesturing out with his left hand. His smile wide as he turns to look at you.

Well. So much for hiding. You sit up slowly and look up sheepishly at sans. Judging by the sound of his voice from before, you had expected him to mock you too but his face looked…different. Shocked? Angry? Sad? You weren’t really sure.

sans’ brow bones furrowed as he continued to stare at you sitting in the snow. Oh geez! It hits you. He probably thinks you’re some slutty creature trying to bone his brother! You stand up quickly and try to dust off the snow from you backside as best you can. You pinch your forearm nervously, and have trouble looking at him in the face. You feel so embarrassed! Maybe you can explain what happened, “I uh well Papyrus was showing me that puzzle over there and um I was teasing him and then there was this snowball fight and I fell-“

“I TACKLED YOU.” Papyrus corrected and nyeh heh heh’d to himself.

Thanks Paps. That’s helpful. You sigh, “Anyway we decided it was a draw-“

“NO I AM QUITE SURE I WON.”

You roll your eyes, “Fine. Paps won and then um you showed up.” You blushed furiously and glared down at the snow, “That’s all.”

The seconds seemed to tick by slowly as an awkward silence echoed. Well, awkward for most. Papyrus seemed immune. You opted for staring at the snow, and waited for the moment to end.

“are you-“ sans’ voice seemed a bit strained, he coughed and started again, “are you having fun?”

You look up at him and see a warm glow in his eyes. His skull tilted slightly to the side, and he watches you with a soft smile.

You smile back, “Yes! I am!”

He sighs quietly and the lights in his eyes dim, “i’m glad.” He turned away and started to head toward down, but paused for a moment. Looking back over his shoulder he said, “i’m gonna go back inside before i freeze my ass off.”

“SANS!” Papyrus shouted at his back, but sans continued walking. “YOU DON’T HAVE AN ASS!” He then glanced at you and his hands shot up to cover his mouth, “OH! I’M SO SORRY HUMAN! PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR USING THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE!”

You wrap your arms around your body to keep yourself together as you burst out laughing. “It’s ok Paps I don’t mind. It wasn’t even that bad.”

His cheekbones are still pink and he still seems embarrassed. He fidgets from foot to foot and the lights in his eyes flicker around the forest. You lightly touch his arm and the lights of his eyes rest on you.

“Hey, come closer. I gotta tell you something.” You whisper.

He leans his head down, closer to your face, eyes glowing wide with curiosity. You give him a quick peck on the bone that bridges his eye sockets together.

“ACK!” he shrieks and leans back, hands covering his now pink skull. You laugh harder at his adorable flustered state.

You were so winning this fight.


	4. Thank God I Have No Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written from sans' POV.
> 
> I'm not intending to make sans an alcoholic or anything, mostly just wanted to try something. He's just feeling lost and hurt and doesn't know how to deal with it. He can't really tell his brother what's hurting him because he's afraid he'll hurt Papyrus if he does. He just wanted the pain to go away for at least one night.

You hate this.

You really do.

Oh god why does it hurt so much?

You stumble into Grillby’s, boney hand clutching the fabric of your jacket over your ribcage, holding it so tightly you’re surprised it hasn’t ripped to shreds.

You think of the human and Papyrus, so close together, having fun and laughing. Papyrus leaning close to the human on the couch, about to press his teeth to their lips in a skelekiss.

You blindly make your way to the bar and sink into a stool heavily and let out a groan. You don’t care who looks at your or the whispers that hiss across the room. You clutch your skull tightly between your hands.

You remember enjoying the sweet torture when they had discovered how sensitive and ticklish your ribcage was. You remember when it was you that wrestled with the human in the snow and teased them with bad puns. You remember pressing your version of a kiss to their forehead at night as they settled in to sleep on your couch.

Their warm body press against yours in an embrace.

Their breath on your neck.

Their mischievous little grin as they tease you with kisses along your jaw.

You were so engulfed in the pain within your ribcage that you didn’t notice Grillby standing patiently on the other side of the counter, until you saw the glow of his flames reflected on the countertop.

You look up slowly through your phalanges. Grillby watches you patiently, cleaning a mug, waiting. After he realizes you’re not in the mood for talking he retreats to the back. You let your skull fall down to the counter with a thud and pull your hood over your head.

Why?

Why do you have to remember?

Why are you the only one forced to bear the burden of these memories?

Why does it have to hurt so much?

You clutch the cloth covering your sternum again. It felt like your ribcage was going to shatter into a million pieces. Is this what they call heartbreak? You let out a low cynical chuckle to yourself, at least you don’t have a heart.

If you did you might die from the pain.

You snapped out of it at the sound of a plate clattering on the countertop. You turn your head to the side to glance up, but don’t lift your skull. Grillby pushes a plate of burger and fries towards you, and two bottles of ketchup. You smile weakly, knowing one was for the berg and the other was for you.

You sit up slightly and begin to eat. You feel numb inside and the food isn’t helping fill the emptiness within you. You take a swig of ketchup. Lazily you tilt the bottle side to side, watching the delicious concoction slowly spill back and forth.

Grillby had moved down the counter, wiping up a spill. He had kindly decided to give you some space, but was still nearby in case you needed him. You waved him over and he stopped cleaning for a moment and walked toward you.

You smiled a hollow grin, and waved the ketchup bottle, “got anything stronger, friend?”

“Are you sure?” his voice sounded like the crackle of a fireplace and the sizzle of water turning to steam on hot metal.

You groan slightly, “come on, help a pal out?”

Grillby stares at you for a moment, but decides to keep his thoughts to himself. He shakes his head slightly and leans down to pick up a glass from underneath the counter. He grabs a chilled bottle of whiskey and pours you a drink. He shrugs apologetically at the lack of ice but you don’t care.

You grab the glass and take a swig and choke. Damn that’s foul. You squirt some ketchup into the drink and swirl it around and take another gulp. Ugh. Still disgusting, but a little better.

You chug the glass and slam it on the counter. The pain in your ribcage still aches but your body feels a little warmer. “another, please.” You mutter.

Grillby sighs and fills your glass once more. Another squirt of ketchup and the liquid disappears between your jaws. Then a third. Then a fourth.

Now you don't even need the ketchup. You wave your hand and Grillby reluctantly fills the glass again, “sans I think you should stop. Go home. Get some rest.” He says.

You grunt and take another drink. The pain is now more of a dull ache and you’re enjoying the lightheaded buzz in your skull. The dizzy feeling increases whenever you move and you let out a low giggle.

The flames of Grillby’s face flicker with concern, “sans what’s going on? Why are you acting like this?” You ignore him and just wave for him to fill your glass again. You growl in frustration when he refuses, “You know this isn’t the right way to deal with what pains you.”

“shut up!” You snarl and snatch the bottle away from him. You stand up a little clumsily, and the stool clatters to the floor. You ignore Grillby’s and the other patrons worried gazes as you make your way to the exit.

“sans are you ok?” the bunny with the swirled eyes whispers to you as you walk passed.

“i’m fine!” you snap and shove the door open and stomp out into the cold. You chug down the rest of the bottle and shove it in your pocket. Your legs wobble uncooperatively and you take shaky steps toward home. You can’t teleport right now. You’re having a hard time seeing straight, let alone finding any glitches in space to jump into. You laugh at your stupidity and your head lolls to the side. At least you don’t live too far away.

You finally make your way to your front door and fumble with the handle. Your fingers don’t seem to want to cooperate and you’re having a hard time getting a firm hold. Finally, with both hands you manage to grip the handle hard enough to turn it and push the door open. You fall on the floor in front of you and laugh a little too loud.

“SANS?” Papyrus says startled, and jumps off the couch and runs to you.

You’re still laying on the floor and laughing. The pain is still there, numbly throbbing within your ribcage, promising to return full force once your buzz is gone. Heh heh. Your head feels floaty as you wobble it back and forth. Heh heh. You fell on the floor, you bonehead. Heh heh heh. Still lying forward, you try to look up at your brother, but you can’t hold your head straight, “what’s up, bro?” you can’t stop giggling.

“SANS! WHAT IS GOING ON?” he sniffs, “HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING?!” He shakes his head and helps you inside, shutting the door behind him.

“only a li’l.” you chuckle at your slurred voice. Papyrus sets you down on the couch and shakes his head, his eyes glowing with worry.

“SANS WHY? WHAT IS GOING ON?” He looks hurt.

“nothin’ bro. ‘m good. wher’s the, hic, ‘uman?” His face continues to swirl in and out of focus as your head sways. You focus your energy on looking at his face. Your vision clears a bit.

He sighs heavily, “THEY’RE AT THE INN, IT IS PRETTY LATE AFTER ALL. SANS WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO TELL ME WHAT HURTS YOU.” He gazes at you sadly, “DO YOU NOT CONSIDER ME OF VALUE BROTHER? DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ME?”

His hurt sobers you up a bit, “of-of course i do bro. i just-“

“NO MORE EXCUSES! I AM YOUR BROTHER AND I CARE ABOUT YOU!” He hugs you close to him and you gasp in surprise.

After a moment he pulls away and you wipe away tears that you hadn’t noticed were running down your face. He looks you straight in the eyes, “NOW WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT’S WRONG?”

Your gaze flicks back and forth between the glowing orbs within his eye sockets. You want so badly to tell him everything. About the resets. About the fear of everything disappearing. About the human and how you felt about them. About how you hated yourself for feeling that way. About how you were happy to see him having fun and falling for the human. About how you want things to stay the same and stop repeating. About how you’re jealous of him and how this timeline seems to be the one that sticks. 

“i-i’m sorry bro but i can’t.” you sob.

Papyrus pushes himself up from the couch and grits his teeth in frustration, “I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU SOMETIMES.” He leaves the living room and you raise your hand to stop him but he ignores you. You didn’t want to fight with him, and you didn’t want to make him angry. You’d follow but suddenly you feel very tired. Your vision dims and you fall forward on the couch.

A short while later, Papyrus shakes you awake. “huh?” you sit up slowly and yawn.

“BROTHER YOU CAN’T SLEEP FACE DOWN ON THE COUCH LIKE THAT.” he rolls his eyes, and lifts one of your arms around his shoulders, “COME ON. LET ME HELP YOU TO YOUR ROOM.” He walks with you up the stairs and you unlock your bedroom door. He lets you lean against your dresser as he fixes the sheets and blankets on your bed. Once he’s finished, he retrieves you and guides you to lay down. 

Silently he moves to leave the room, and when he reaches the doorway you say, “hey bro. i’m sorry i didn't read you a bedtime story tonight.”

He rests a hand on the doorframe and gazes out into the hallway. You watch his shoulders heave in a sigh, “IT’S FINE BROTHER. AND I’M SORRY TOO.” He glances over his shoulder to look at you, “I DO WISH YOU TRUSTED ME TO TELL ME WHAT HURTS YOU, BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANNOT.” He grabs the door handle, “JUST PLEASE REMEMBER THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU’RE READY!” He nyeh heh heh’d softly and shut the door. You listen to his footsteps retreat down the hallway to his room and sigh.

Your brother was so cool. No wonder the human likes him.

The pain sprang up sharply within your ribcage and you clutch at your sternum with a gasp. You groan as your buzz has almost faded away, and roll over to your side to face the wall. You curl up and feel liquid leaking from your eye sockets. You smile without emotion at yourself, and claw at your jacket.

Why does this still hurt?

You've fallen asleep in this state numerous times now.

If you had a heart it would've crumpled into dust.


	5. It's Just A Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is really getting worried about his brother, but sans won't talk to him. The reader tries to help Papyrus cheer him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also sorry I wrote this at like 2am again haha so I apologize if some things are said weird or if some words are repetitive. I didn't think so many people would be interested in this and I'm really getting into it XD I'm trying to finish as much as I can before I'm gone next week!

*sans POV*

You awaken to a sharp pain pulsing within your skull. Groaning you try to massage your head but the searing pain is coming from within. Your whole body hurts. Rolling over onto your back, the bottle falls out of your pocket, and falls to the floor. You stare at it as it rolls away, and groan again. The bone around you eye sockets felt dry and salty, and you try to scrub it away.

“SANS! ARE YOU AWAKE?” Papyrus calls from the other side of the door and gently knocks.

The sound of his voice sends another jolt of pain through your skull and you press your hands into your face. Ugh, what a stupid idea. You glare at the bottle on the floor. Why had you been so foolish to think that it would help ease your pain? All it did was make you feel even more like shit.

You wince as the door opens slowly with a creak, “ARE YOU OK BROTHER?” Papyrus leans around the door, brow bones raised in concern.

You force yourself to stand up, ignoring the stabbing pains within your skull screaming at you to lay down again, “yeah i’m ok.” The sound of your voice wasn’t fooling anyone. You slump forward a bit and do your best to make your smile seem convincing. 

Papyrus walks over to you and sits at the foot of your bed. He doesn’t say anything. He just sits and twiddles his thumbs and stares at his gloves. Waiting for you to to say something or nothing at all.

You sigh and collapse back onto the bed and pull the covers over your head.

“BROTHER?” He says.

“i told you i’m ok bro. just leave me to my…skullking…” even the pun seems to fall flat to you.

He sighs and you feel the bed jostle as he stands up, “OK BROTHER I’LL LEAVE YOU FOR NOW. BUT YOU CAN’T STAY IN BED ALL DAY.” You hear his footsteps retreating and the door shuts with a quiet click.

Like hell you can’t.

*Reader POV*

You practically run to the skelebro’s house. You’re so excited to see Papyrus! Today he said he was going to plan a picnic. You were worried you’d be cold but the rabbit that owned the inn (and who was already gracious enough to let you stay for free) lent you a second sweater to wear over yours to keep you warm.

You knock on the door and can’t contain your excitement. You never would’ve guessed that you’d find yourself falling for a skeleton, but he was so sweet and precious how could you not?

Papyrus opens the front door slowly, shoulders slumped, and eyes cast down to the ground. “OH, HELLO HUMAN.” he mutters.

Your smile fades slightly, “Hey Papyrus. Are you ok?”

He sighs as he moves to the side to let you in, “YES I AM OK. IT’S MY BROTHER. HE SEEMS DOWN A LOT MORE THAN USUAL AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.” He shuts the door behind you, and finally glances up. He looks at you, confused, “WHY DO YOU HAVE TWO SWEATERS?”

You blush slightly, “Oh, um, because we were going to go on a picnic-“

“AGH! I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAD FORGOTTEN OUR DATE!” He smacks himself on the forehead and mutters to himself in frustration.

You try to give him a comforting smile but can’t catch his eye, “Hey it’s ok.” You grab his boney wrist and lead him to the couch, glancing up at sans’ bedroom door. Sitting down, you grab his other wrist and force him to remove his hand from his face, “Do you want to talk about anything?”

He leans back into the couch with a sigh, eye sockets on sans’ bedroom door, “IT’S OK HUMAN. I DON’T WANT TO CAUSE YOU UNNEEDED STRESS OR WORRY.”

You smile and place a hand on his shoulder, and he tilts his head toward you, “I consider sans a friend and um, you…” you blush, “You mean a lot to me. If something’s bothering you I want you to know I’m here for you. You can tell me anything.”

You could’ve sworn you saw a tear well up in his eye socket. He gasps and wraps his arms around you in a tight hug, “WOWIE HUMAN! YOUR KINDNESS IS TRULY AMAZING AND MAY EVEN RIVAL MY OWN.”

You giggle and hug him back. It’s a little weird, as you can feel all the bumps and ridges of his spine underneath your fingertips, but it feels nice. After a little while, Papyrus leans away and smiles shyly at you, arms still lightly wrapped around your waist.

“IS THIS OK HUMAN?”

You nod happily and he seems relieved. His phalanges stroke your back lightly as he talks, “SANS…WELL…SANS HAS ALWAYS SEEMED TO HIDE A SADNESS WITHIN HIM. SOMETIMES HE DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM ME, BUT LATELY IT’S BEEN DIFFERENT. HE USUALLY DOESN’T…ACT THIS WAY…HE’S DISTANCING HIMSELF EVEN MORE THAN USUAL AND IT WORRIES ME.” 

His gaze drifts to the floor and his brow bones furrow, “HE EVEN STUMBLED HOME LAST NIGHT LIKE A DRUNKEN FOOL.” He shakes his head, “HE’S NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE.” He grits his teeth in frustration, “ BUT HE WON’T TALK TO ME.” He nyeh heh heh’d bitterly and gazed at you sadly, “IT’S HARD TO FEEL VERY GREAT WHEN I CAN’T EVEN HELP MY OWN BROTHER.”

“Aw Paps!” You lean forward and squeeze him in a tight hug, “What are you talking about? You’re the greatest brother ever!”

He sniffles in your shoulder, “REALLY?”

You nod, “Of course you are! You care so much about your brother and I can tell you really love him.”

“THEN WHY WON’T HE LET ME HELP HIM?” he whines into your shoulder.

“I don’t know Paps.” You say as you stroke the back of his spine, “Everyone handles bad feelings differently. Some people like to talk to others, and some prefer to be left alone.” A small sob shakes his body and you shush him and massage the back of his skull to comfort him. Thinking for a moment, an idea forms in your mind, “Hey, Papyrus.” You say with a tap on the back of his skull to get his attention. 

He leans back and looks at you with sad glowing eyes, “WHAT?” he sniffles.

You smile, “I just thought of a great idea. I don’t remember much about my time up on the surface but for some reason I remember my grandma.” You giggle as he looks at you confused, clearly not really sure where your thought is headed, “Anyway, she loved to cook and had all kinds of recipes. She used to make a dish for me whenever I was sick or feeling down-“

“IS IT SPAGHETTI?” he beams and you giggle more.

“No silly! It’s chicken noodle soup!”

He looked at you, puzzled, “CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP….SPAGHETTI?”

You roll your eyes and give him a playful shove, “No. No spaghetti. Sheesh maybe your brain is made out of spaghetti!”

“HEY THAT WAS RUDE!” he pouts.

You smirk, “You’re right. Let me say I’m sorry.”

You give a quick peck on the bone between his eye sockets, “ACK! QUIT DOING THAT!” he shrieks and covers his face in his hands and you laugh. You’ll never get tired of that. He glares at you but you can’t take him seriously with his glowing pink cheekbones.

“I can’t help it. You’re adorable.” You lift yourself up off the couch and head toward the door, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go buy ingredients.”

 

You return with your arms full of grocery bags. Papyrus quickly runs to you and helps you carry everything to the kitchen. You take the lead with the broth, but allow him to chop the veggies and chicken. You have to keep a close eye on him though, as the little stinker is determined to over-salt the broth. As you’re stirring the soup and he adds the chicken and some of the vegetation you glance at his apron and grin when you find that it reads ‘Kiss the Cook!’

“Hey Paps.” you say lightly, trying to sound innocent.

“MM?” he responds but isn’t looking at you as he chops up some more celery and carrots.

You tilt your head and watch the soup swirl thoughtfully, “The soup looks kinda weird. What do you think?”

Concerned he wipes his hands and looks over your shoulder, “I’M NOT SURE WHAT IT’S SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE SPAGHETTI.” He shrugs.

You try to stifle your giggle, “Maybe you should have a closer look to be sure it’s ok.”

He seems cautious, but he steps around to your side and leans over the pot, “IT LOOKS FINE-“

You quickly peck his cheekbone once he’s in reach.

“ACK!” he shrieks yet again and jerks up, the kissed cheekbone glowing even pinker than it had earlier. “HU-HUMAN! WHAT DID I SAY BEFORE?” He waggles his finger in front of your face to scold you. A curious thought crosses your mind and you quickly grab his hand and press a kiss into his palm. “ACK!” He jerks away and holds his skull on either side in his hands, “HUMAN!” His cute skull is glowing pink and he fidgets around the kitchen, clearly flustered and not sure what to do with himself.

You’re totally winning.  
Human 4. Papyrus 0.

You smile smugly, “Aw come on Paps it’s just a little kiss.”

“TH-THAT MAY BE TRUE BUT IT’S FROM YOU!” he exclaims.

“What?”

His cheekbones were still faintly glowing pink as he looks at you, “IT’S FROM YOU AND IT MAKES ME REALLY REALLY HAPPY AND I FEEL FUNNY.” He quickly turns away and chops the veggies a bit more unsteady than before.

You blush and return to stirring the soup.

Ok, Papyrus 1.

After the soup was finally finished, you ladled it into a bowl and hold it out to Papyrus. “Here. Give this to your brother. I’m sure it’ll cheer him up.”

He reaches out to take it, but hesitates, “I-I AM NOT SURE IF HE MIGHT BE MAD AT ME. WOULD YOU TAKE IT FOR ME HUMAN?”

Your heart aches for him, “Oh, Paps.” you whisper. His eyes now seem so hollow and sad as he stares at the countertop. “Ok. I’ll let him know you helped make it too.”

He smiles gratefully, “THANK YOU HUMAN. I AM VERY LUCKY TO HAVE YOU IN MY LIFE.”

You blush again as you make your way across the living room and up the stairs. You pause at sans’ bedroom door and knock gently. There’s no answer. You slowly turn the handle and find that the door was unlocked. Quietly you push the door open and peek inside.

It’s really dark in the room, but you can see sans huddled up on the bed, facing the wall. You carefully make your way through the room, dodging the clutter, and set the bowl of soup down on the dresser near the bed. sans hasn’t acknowledged your presence, but he doesn’t seem to be asleep.

You cautiously reach out your and touch his shoulder, and he turns toward you with a groan. When he realizes it was you and not his brother he gasps and jerks away from your hand. His eye sockets are void of any light. Streaks stain his skull. Has he been…crying? Neither of you say anything from a moment. He just continues to stare at you.

“Um.” you say awkwardly, breaking the silence, “Papyrus said that you were having a bad day so we uh, made you some soup.” You gestured to the bowl on the dresser.

His sockets are still empty, black pits, but his face shifts to look toward the dresser. “thank you.” he whispers in a raspy voice.

He has been crying.

You hand him the bowl and settle down on the end of the bed. He holds it in his hands and just watches the steam waft away from the broth. You let him sit in silence, not wanting to push him or make him feel more upset, and breath slowly, hoping that your presence is at least comforting. After some time he picks of the spoon and starts to eat. “this is really good.” he mumbles.

You smile, “Thank you. My grandma used to teach me a lot of recipes.” you sigh at the memory, “She always loved cooking and would use it as a way of showing she cared.”

He looks up at you, “i’ve never heard about your grandma before.” You raise an eyebrow. That was kind of a weird thing to say. Embarrassed he glances back down at the soup and starts eating again.

You shrug it off, “Yeah she was really amazing. I don’t remember a lot about my life on the surface. Most of my memories seem to have disappeared or are really fuzzy, but if I think really hard I can remember her.”

He gulps down the last of the broth, hands you the bowl, and wipes of his chin, “what else do you remember besides soup and spaghetti?”

You smile down at the emptied bowl, “Well I remember she used to tell me about stories of humans and monsters and how they used to be friends before the war. My mom would always get so mad at her and tell her to stop filling my head with useless fantasies.” you chuckle quietly, “My mom never believed monsters were real, but she told me that if they were she would hate them. I could never understand why.” you look up at the ceiling, “I would always go to my grandma and beg her to tell me more stories and I remember laying awake every night wishing monsters were real, and hoping one day I could meet them. She always told me about how kind and pure monsters were.” You smile at him, “And how if you were friends then you’d stay friends no matter what, and they’d always be there for you. Monsters aren’t selfish like humans. When they care about you, they’ll do anything they can to help you.” He’s staring at you oddly and you feel embarrassed and look down at the bowl again, “S-sorry I know it’s dumb I just, never really had many friends that stuck around for very long as a kid.”

You stand up quickly and try to laugh away the embarrassment, “I um just wanted to say I hope we can have a friendship like that. And that you’ll know I’ll always be there for you if you need someone.” You turn to leave but something’s caught your sweater.

Glancing back you see sans has pinched the hem of your sweater. He looks up into your eyes, jaw opening and closing, the lights in his eyes are finally back, but they glow very dimly. He looks like he’s searching for the words to say something. No, more like he’s struggling with whether or not he should say it. Your heartbeat quickens for some reason but you don’t know why.

Finally with a sigh he releases your sweater and smiles softly, “thank you. i’m glad i have a friend like you.”

You smile back, happy that you at least cheered him up a little, “I’m glad. And don’t forget about your brother too. He’s been worried about you all day.”

He chuckles quietly, “well be sure to pa-tella him thank you for me too ok? i’ll be up in a bit, i’m just…bone tired.” he says with a sigh and lays down again.

You nod and quietly make your way toward the exit, and shut the door behind you. Papyrus has just finished cleaning up as you enter the kitchen. He whirls around to you quickly, eyes blazing with concern, “HOW IS HE? IS HE OK? DID HE LIKE THE SOUP? WAS HE MAD AT ME?”

You hand him the bowl and grin, “He’s still really tired. I’m not sure if he’s quite ok yet but but he looks better. Yes he did. No, he wasn’t and still isn’t. He also told me to thank you for helping make him such delicious soup!”

He breathes a large sigh of relief as he turns around to scrub the bowl clean. You shake your head as he starts to hum a happy tune as he cleans. You’re too short to reach the sink, so you’re not much help here, and the countertops have already been cleared. You decide to head into the living room and wait till he’s finished with the last of the dishes.

“HEY HUMAN.” Papyrus says and you stop just at the end of the kitchen.

You start to turn around, “Wha-“ Then suddenly a skelekiss is pressed lightly to your forehead. “H-Hey what was that!” You squeal as your hand flies to your face. You feel your cheeks increase in shades of red as he grins triumphantly at you.

“NYEH HEH HEH! OH COME ON HUMAN IT WAS JUST A SIMPLE KISS.” He shakes his head in playful mockery and returns to the dishes.

Alright. 

Human 4. Papyrus 2.


	6. The Saying Goes...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this switches between Reader POV and sans' POV. I also found a song right after writing It's Just A Kiss and it just seemed to fit with how sans feels. I mostly just wanted to try something a little new too. The song is called Miss Mysterious by Set it Off. Now, it's about a girl but that doesn't mean the Reader is a girl ;) they're still gender neutral and up to your interpretation.
> 
> I incorporated some of the lyrics in the chapter, and by no means own them. I'd recommend listening to the song during the first section of sans' POV to get the full effect, but you don't have to:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8uoRssTEuc&ab_channel=SetItOffDuality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie! Over 100 kudos! That's amazing! Thank you so much everyone! Your love and support really keeps me going!

*Reader POV*

A few weeks have gone by since you’ve met the brothers and decided to stay in Snowdin to, uh, get to know them. Like friends do. Hang out. And you know, flirt sometimes with the cute brother and tease him with kisses.

Totally normal friend stuff.

sans has been doing better as well. He’s still distant, and often zones out, staring at nothing in particular, but he at least hangs out for a little while before heading off somewhere. When he’s with you and Papyrus, sometimes you catch him giving you strange looks, but he quickly glances away whenever he notices you looking at him and shrugs off your questions.

Earlier today, Papyrus had run up the stairs of the inn and pounded on the door to your room excitedly. You were startled awake and fell out of bed. Grumpy and still half asleep you opened up the door and squinted at him, “What in the world are you doing?”

“HUMAN! I FOUND A NEW MOVIE AT THE DUMP!” He’s filled to the brim with excitement.

That’s a weird thing to be excited about. Usually stuff in the dump is there for a reason…

You scrub the sleep from your eyes and reach out your hand to the DVD, “Ok…let’s see what it is.” He firmly planted it in your hand and you furrowed your brows at the cover. You’ve never heard of it before, and it looks like it’s a low budget film. You flip it over and read the summary and start to blush. “It um sounds like some kind of romantic comedy.”

“OH! THAT SOUNDS EXCITING!! WHAT’S A ROMANTIC COMEDY?” His eye sockets wide with curiosity.

You giggle at the cute little skeleton before you, “It’s a cheesy film about couples and falling in love. Stuff like that.” You shrug and hand it back to him.

“I SEE…WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME OVER AND WATCH IT WITH ME?” He’s still excited, but there’s a slight hint of shyness in that question.

Your blush increases a few shades, “Um well…” It was always kind of embarrassing watching movies like that with someone you had just started dating. You weren’t sure if you were quite ready for that with Papyrus.

He notices your hesitation and pouts a bit, “PLEASE? I STILL WANT TO MAKE UP FOR OUR MISSED PICNIC.”

“But you did! You’ve taken me on two picnics!”

He sighs and looks down at the movie case, “I KNOW, BUT IT’S STILL NOT ENOUGH. EVERY MOMENT I GET TO SPEND WITH YOU IS PRECIOUS TO ME. I DON’T WANT TO WASTE ANY MORE.”

Your face feels like it’s on fire and you’ve forgotten how to speak.

When you didn’t say anything for a while, Papyrus looked up and must’ve been alarmed by the look on your face because he sputtered, “I-I MEAN UH WELL UH S-SANS SAYS YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONTINUE ON YOUR JOURNEY SOMEDAY AND UH THAT MADE ME SAD BUT UM I DON’T WANT YOU TO THINK YOU HAVE TO STAY AND I JUST WANTED TO ER SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS I COULD WITH YOU UNTIL YOU DECIDED TO GO.” His skull was bright pink.

Somehow seeing him flustered was able to quell your blush just a bit, you giggle and smile at him sweetly, “Well if that’s all you’re worried about I’d love to watch the movie with you. I need to get ready first, but I’ll head over to your house later.”

“WOWIE!! THANK YOU HUMAN!” He exclaims and leans down to kiss your forehead and you squeal. “I’LL GO GET EVERYTHING READY!” He shouts as he runs down the stairs with a huge grin on his face.

You put a hand to your forehead and shake your head.

Human 4, Papyrus 3.

He’s definitely giving you a run for your money now, but you’re still going to win.

As you get ready and try to figure out what to do with your bedhead, you think about what he had said. You can’t just stay in Snowdin forever. You sigh. The thoughts been in the back of your mind since day one. You know you have to go, but whenever you thought about mentioning it to Papyrus you just couldn’t bring yourself to tell him. You wanted to spend every moment you could with him too.

But you also wanted to make his dream come true. On your first date, he had mentioned his wish to drive down the highway with the sun on his skin and wind in his hair. You chuckle at the memory, but you wanted to make as much of it come true as was possible. There had to be a way. A way to free them too. You didn’t want to go to the surface alone.

You look at yourself in the mirror and straighten your sweater. Your hair is still a little wild but you shrug, that’s as good as it’s gonna get. You shut the door behind you, and head over to the skelebro’s house.

 

The movie starts off well. You’re sitting in the middle, Papyrus is on your right and sans on your left. It’s funny how different the brothers are. sans is slouched into the cushions, feet up on the coffee table, while Papyrus is sitting up, straight and proper, with feet on the floor.

It’s set in a high school (wow where’d they get that idea), and it’s about a nerdy boy having a crush on the most popular girl in school (really pushing those creative boundaries guys). The poor boy can’t seem to catch a break and always seems to humiliate himself whenever the girl is present.

This of course, is hilarious to you and sans. Papyrus seems to be upset that you’re laughing so much, so you try your best to stifle your snickers. At one scene, the boy is so entranced staring at the girl in the cafeteria that he doesn’t notice a support pillar and walks straight into it. He falls on his butt and his lunch is spilled all over himself. sans and you laugh again.

“Aw that poor kid.” you manage between chuckles.

“HEY THAT’S NOT VERY NICE TO LAUGH. HE WAS HUMILIATED IN FRONT OF THE OBJECT OF HIS AFFECTION!” Papyrus turns to you with hurt in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, you’re right Paps. I’m sure it’ll have a happy ending though.” You rest your hand on his arm to comfort him.

“yeah i’m sure he’ll turn into a real stud-ent.” sans smirks and you giggle again.

The movie continues and the boy ends up tutoring the girl and she realizes what an amazing guy he really is. She becomes less shallow and worried about status and starts to fall for him too. At this point, Papyrus has wrapped his arm around you and pulled you closer to him. You snuggle into him, and despite the boney ribcage, it’s surprisingly comfortable. You sigh in content.

Finally the girl and boy kiss and you feel yourself blush when you hear Papyrus gasp quietly and his arm around you squeezes you closer. You haven’t actually kissed Papyrus yet, and the thought made you feel all tickled and silly inside. You see sans shift in the corner of your eye and tilt your head slightly to see him clearer.

He’s no longer slouched. He’s sitting straight up and has a strained look on his face. You hear the actors giggle and confess their love clumsily and sans parts his jaws as if to let out a silent groan. You inhale and open your mouth to ask him what’s wrong, but he stands up abruptly.

“i’m uh gonna go to bed now. g’night.” His eye sockets are dark shadows, and his skull is tilted towards the floor as he quickly makes his way to his room.

“EVERYTHING OK BROTHER?” Papyrus calls after him.

“yep.” he says shortly and shuts the door.

*sans POV*

You lean back against your door and let the back of your skull hit it with a dull thud. A low groan escapes your jaws as you stare up at the ceiling. Memories flicker within your mind. You had found that movie last time. You had held the human in your arms. You had cracked more jokes and kissed the human at the end of the film. You had kissed the human so many times after that…

You growl in frustration and your hands reach up to claw at your skull as your body sinks to the ground. Why can’t you just make these memories go away? You glance at the whiskey bottle. No. Hell no. Not doing that again. You pick yourself up and stumble to the computer in your room and sink heavily into the chair in front of it. You hear the human giggle and the hum of Papyrus’ voice downstairs Well, maybe some videos or music can drown out the thoughts in your head.

You slip on some headphones and find some music to blare. It’s mostly just mindless dribble and catchy tunes and you rest your chin in your hand and let your vision fade to nothing. Then, a certain song catches your attention.

_Who could you be?_

_Was the ghost of what we had_

_Did you erase it from your past?_

You gasp and reach for the mouse to skip to the next song, but as it continues to play the all too familiar dull ache in your ribcage seems to crave more. Your hand hovers above the mouse, and you hesitate for a little longer.

_May I ask?_

_Is your sunshine like my rain?_

_Is your pleasure like my pain?_

Numbly your hand falls onto the desk and you feel yourself become enveloped within the song. The ache within your ribcage yearns to be acknowledged and thrums with the beat.

_I guess our stars forgot how to glow._

You fall back into your chair, skull tilted upward, and let your vision darken again. Your jaws parted slightly as you let the pain engulf your mind. You feel the tears run down your face, but you’re too lazy to wipe them away.

_Now how do I get closure when you’re only ever closed off_

_Tell me who could take your place_

_When these memories are telling me_

_That we were not a waste?_

You choke back a sob and clutch your jacket again. The ache is increasing and it feels like you’re going to fall apart.

_Now I’m trying hard to win but we’ve lost all that we can lose…_

Why did it have to be Papyrus? You’d be happy to steal the human away from anyone else. But your brother? You could never bring yourself to do that to him. An agonized groan leaks from your jaws and even you’re surprised at the sound it makes. It sounds like you’re dying. Which is fitting in a way.

The song fades and you’re left in silence. You can’t move. The pain within your ribcage has taken over your body. You cling desperately to your jacket, trying to keep yourself together. You let the tears fall where they may, and feel them drip down your cheekbones onto your clavicle and jacket.

*Reader POV*

“Thanks for the movie Paps! It was fun!” You grin up at him as he walks you to the door.

“I’M GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT HUMAN.” he says, cheekbones lightly tinted pink.

You both stand facing each other, awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact.

“Hey, um, Papyrus?” you ask shyly.

“YES?”

“I think I’m ready to continue on my journey now. I need to get back to the surface.”

“OH.” You look up at him and he seems disappointed for a moment, but his ever cheerful demeanor returns, “WELL THEN GOOD LUCK TO YOU HUMAN! YOU REMEMBER THE DIRECTIONS I TOLD YOU?”

You grin, “Yes of course I do.”

“EXCELLENT.” He pats you on the head, “IT HAS BEEN NICE GETTING TO KNOW YOU HUMAN, I WISH YOU THE BEST.”

You roll your eyes and catch his hand, “Hey, you know I’m not leaving forever. I’m going to find a way to free all the monsters and take you to the surface with me.”

“R-REALLY?” His eye sockets seem to grow wider in surprise.

You kiss his palm, “Yes. I want to be with you Paps. I want to drive with you down the highway and I want to go on more dates with you.” You let your voice drift off towards the end as your cheeks flush.

He cups your chin in his hand and strokes your cheek with your thumb, “I WOULD LOVE TO GO ON MORE DATES WITH YOU TOO HUMAN.”Your heart is beating so fast you wonder if he can feel it as the tips of his phalanges brush against your neck.

“Papyrus.” you whisper and part your lips, wanting to say more.

His eye sockets glow with a strange and serious expression as he leans closer to you, “YES HUMAN?”

You reach around to the back of his skull and pull him even closer. You press your lips firmly against his teeth, his bones rattle as he shivers in surprise. You still can’t get over the fact that he’s a skeleton, but you don’t care. You pucker your lips and kiss him again, and he lets out a happy sigh and nuzzles you back to return the kiss. He loops his arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him. His other hand is still on your face, and he gently strokes your cheek as he kisses you again and again. He kisses your forehead and your nose. He kisses along your jaw and down your neck. He squeezes you tighter against him when you sigh with delight. He chuckles a bit against your neck, and glides his teeth back up to kiss your lips once more.

His embrace around you loosens slightly as he leans back, a warm smile on his face and an even warmer glow in his eye sockets. “I LOVE YOU HUMAN.”

Your heart jumps up in your throat and you smile too, “I love you too Papyrus.” He leans down for one final kiss before releasing you. You feel a little dizzy as you exit their home.

*sans POV*

“SANS!” Papyrus shouts and pounds on the door, snapping you out of your misery. You jump up quickly, yank off the headphones, and scrub your face with your sleeve.

He opens the door and you’re glad that the back of the chair faces the door. You face the computer screen as you speak, “what’s up bro? movie over?”

“YES IT JUST ENDED A BIT AGO. GUESS WHAT SANS!”

“what?”

“THE HUMAN IS GOING TO TAKE US ALL TO THE SURFACE!”

You brace yourself against the desk and inhale a shaky breath, “that’s uh great bro.”

“I KNOW! AND THERE’S MORE!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“oh yeah? what else bro?” he always got so excited at the simplest of things.

“THE HUMAN KISSED ME! AND THEY SAID THEY LOVED ME!”

You felt like your legs got knocked out from beneath you and you sank back into your chair. You stare at the bright computer screen in the black room. You don’t realize that you’ve been silent for too long until Papyrus speaks again.

“ARE YOU OK BROTHER? ARE YOU FEELING SICK?” you hear his footsteps start to approach you.

You wave your hand over your shoulder, “no uh my legs must’ve fallen asleep. i’m good.”

He sighs, “I SWEAR SOME PART OF YOU IS ALWAYS SLEEPING.”

You let out a hollow chuckle, “yeah guess i really am just a pile of lazy bones.”

Thankfully his footsteps retreat to the doorway as he grumbles at your joke. When you hear him grab the handle and start to shut the door you say, “hey papyrus…”

He sighs again, still annoyed at your joke, “YEAH?”

“i’m glad you’re happy bro. it’s great that you found someone.”

“THANK YOU BROTHER! I HOPE THAT ONE DAY YOU FIND SOMEONE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY AS WELL!” and with that he shut the door and left you to return to your silent agony.

You groan quietly again and let yourself fall forward until the top of your skull met the desk.That was the problem.

You already had.

 

The next day you settled into your sentry stand at the entrance of Waterfall. You try to ignore the mixture of excited thrumming and the dull ache within your ribcage as you see the human approach. When they see you at your stand they look back over their shoulder and then to you again, confusion on their face.

“one of my sentry stands.” you answer the unasked question simply.

“Oh.” the human giggles, “One of your jobs?”

“yep.” simple answers were probably the best route to take.

The human tilts their head to the side and smiles, hands clasped behind their back. Ugh, why did they have to do that? They always looked so cute and would use that move to get you to do stuff you didn’t want to. Like get out of bed or put on pants or take them on a date…

“Must be pretty boring sitting out here all day.”

You shrug, “it’s not that bad. i take a lot of breaks and have a nice stock of snacks.” You gesture to your row of condiment bottles. The human leans closer to inspect your sentry station and you inhale sharply as their sweet scent wafts over to you. You swallow the lump in your nonexistent throat and lean away slightly.

Still leaning forward, the human gazes at you, “I suppose Papyrus told you that I’m leaving Snowdin now?”

“y-yeah.”

The human smiled at you again, and you can’t look away from their eyes. “I promise I’m not leaving forever. I’m going to find away to break the barrier and help everyone get to the surface.”

You open and close your jaws a few times before you’re able to respond, “th-that’d be great kid.”

The human leans away and starts to head toward Waterfall.

“w-wait!” you call after them. They pause and look over their shoulder at you. You want to tell them. You need to tell them. About the hurt. About you and them. About the timelines and the resets. About how you feel…

You can’t.

Even if something causes everything to reset again.

You can’t do that to your brother.

You can’t.

“be…careful out there kid. undyne’s pretty tough.”

The human waves goodbye, “Thanks for the tip sans. I’ll do my best!”

You watch their back as they walk farther and farther away from you, and an idea comes to your mind. You pull out your cell and dial.

“HELLO?”

“hey papyrus. the kid just entered waterfall. i think you should go with them to help. especially when they encounter undyne.”

“HM I DON’T KNOW, I THINK THAT UNDYNE WOULD BE DISPLEASED WITH THAT.”

“maybe, but you could convince undyne to be friends with the human. and the human would probably be really grateful to have you tag along.”

“YOU THINK SO?”

“yeah, i think the human would be really happy if you were by their side.”

“GREAT IDEA SANS! I’LL HEAD OUT RIGHT NOW!”

Click.

You smile down at the phone and shake your head. Glancing back at the entrance of Waterfall, the kid is already out of sight. Normally you’d be the one helping them throughout Waterfall, but you can’t trust yourself to be alone with them. You sigh, and stand up. It’s about time you take your break.

_The saying goes,_

_“If you love someone, let them go.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I um have been kind of toying with this idea...I know some writers here do commissions and I've been thinking about doing the same. 
> 
> If you'd like to request like other timelines or other short stories you can email me at skelegirl.fanfic@gmail.com.
> 
> Or if you just want to say some encouraging words or something like that I'd love it! XD


	7. Taco Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright just a head's up! I will be out of town for the next week (may have time to write one more chapter as I don't leave till Monday) but if not this will be the last chapter until I get back! Sorry I just don't feel like typing everything on my phone XD I wrote a bit longer than I usually do so hopefully that makes up for it!
> 
> Thank you all for the support! Rewind and Replay has also reached over 500 kudos!! :D That's just so amazing to me! Thank you all!
> 
> And again if anyone wants a commission or request for alternate timelines and what not you can email me at 
> 
> skelegirl.fanfic@gmail.com

“Seven. Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a god. Six. That’s how many we’ve collected so far. Understand?” Your heart is beating rapidly in your chest as you gaze up at an angry fish woman perched atop a mountain. “You will be the seventh.” Yeah, you had hoped she would say something else, but with your luck that was far from likely. You sigh inwardly and try to remember how to move your legs, but the terror holds you in place. “Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, it is customary for those to make it this far… I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago…” she drifted off for a moment and seemed thoughtful. Despite the fear you were curious to hear more. “No, you know what?” she snarled and glared at you, “SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY?! WHEN YOU’RE ABOUT TO DIE?” She raised her hand and an all too familiar spear appeared in her fist.

You screamed and turned to the left to run back where you had come from, but stopped abruptly when you slammed into something. You started to fall backward, but a boney hand griped your arm firmly and pulled you back up to your feet.

“Pa-papyrus?” You looked up at him confused. Why is he here?

He grins widely at you and opens his mouth to speak but you don’t have time for his adorable chatter. You try to push him to run with you, to get away from this crazy fish lady, but he’s rooted to the spot. Damn skeletons are oddly sturdy considering their lack of muscles.

“NGAAAHHHHHH!!!” the fish lady yelled and leapt down from the mountain. Papyrus glanced up at her, and his usual cheerful face turned serious.

He pushed you behind his back as the fish lady fell upon you. With a crackle of magic a bone materialized in his hand, wielded like a sword. A crack echoed throughout the cavern as the spear and bone met in the middle.

“Papyrus! What the hell are you doing?! Get out of the way!” the fish lady growled.

“SORRY UNDYNE BUT I CAN’T LET YOU HURT THIS HUMAN.” Papyrus shifted and pushed the fish lady, who you learned was called Undyne, backwards. She sneered and more spears appeared and flew toward him.

He waved his hand and just as many bones appeared to meet the spears. Loud cracks and snaps filled the air as they clashed. Undyne shook her head, “I always knew you were a softie Papyrus. You’re supposed to capture humans not protect them!”

You watched as Papyrus swung his bone-blade in a wide arch to block another jab of her spear, his face firm and serious. He met her blow for blow, orange magic crackling around his body as he moved, and she was clearly getting frustrated. Her eye flicked toward you, and a smirk crawled across her face.

That’s not good.

She leapt back and raised her hand to form more spears. They all launched straight at Papyrus and he braced himself to parry the attacks when suddenly the spears arched wide and flew over him.

Straight at you.

Uh oh.

You watched as the spears came at you in a semi circle. There’s no way you’d be able to dodge this or run away in time. You cover your face and wait to feel the spears pierce your flesh.

“NO!” you hear Papyrus shout.

You were so afraid and you didn’t want to move an inch. Your eyes were squeezed shut behind your fingers and you breathed in shallow breaths. Hm…these spears sure seem to be taking a long time to hit you…they had looked like they were flying pretty fast…. You decided to be a little brave and peeked through your fingers and gasped.

A wall of bones had formed, blocking all spears from reaching you. Through the bones you could see a very angry Papyrus, and a shocked Undyne.

“UNDYNE! YOU CANNOT ATTACK MY FRIEND! I WON’T ALLOW IT!” Papyrus said as he stomped on the ground affirmatively.

“Your friend? Papyrus they’re a human. We can’t be friends with humans.” she seemed quite shaken, and her spears dispersed.

Papyrus snorted, “WELL I WAS ABLE TO AND I HAD THOUGHT YOU’D BE ABLE TO AS WELL BUT CLEARLY I OVERESTIMATED YOU.” He shook his head and the wall of bones dissolved as well.

She scowled at that, “You better not be implying what I think you are.”

He laughed, “AND IF I AM?”

She glared at you again and you felt your heart plummet to your shoes. She started stomping toward you and Papyrus watched her carefully. Oh no. Oh no. She stopped in front of you and smiled a wide, toothy grin, “C’mon pal! You and I are going to be best friends!” And with that she griped your forearm and started dragging you backwards into Waterfall again.

“Wait!” you exclaim as you stumble and trip over your heels, trying to keep up with her quick and determined pace. You glance back at Papyrus, and he’s following close behind, a curious and protective gleam in his eye.

She drags you all the way to her house and forcefully sits you down at her table. She claps her hand in front of her and grins, “Now then? What would you like to do, best friend?”

You look at Papyrus, who had settled down next to you, silently asking for help. He just smiled happily. Well, his seriousness was gone for the moment, so you took that as a good sign. You swallow the lump in your throat and mumble, “I’m uh not really sure.”

Her eye twitched a bit in annoyance, but her grin stayed wide, “Well would you like a drink bestie?” her voice dropped a pitch in irritation when she added, “Papyrus?”

“TEA WOULD BE GREAT!”

“Y-yeah tea is good.” You sigh gratefully, silently thanking Paps for the help.

As she walks around to gather the tea bags and boil the water, Papyrus nudges you to help. You stand up to offer to grab the cups, but in a flash a spear stabs the table, splitting it in two. You let out a yelp of surprise and Undyne rubs the back of her head embarrassed and Papyrus glares at her.

“Don’t get up.” she laughed it off, “You’re uh the guest. I can take care of everything.”

“O-ok.” You manage to choke out and sit back down. Papyrus rests his hand on your knee, giving it a light squeeze, and smiles at you. You smile back, his presence calming your nerves.

Once the tea is done, she sets down a cup in front of you, another in front of Papyrus, and settles down across from the two of you. She grins, “Might want to wait a moment it’s hot.”

You blow away some of the steam, and hold the cup close to your face. The warmth seeping through the ceramic felt good in your hands, and the steam tickled your nose. You take a small sip, and Papyrus guzzles his down.

Undyne chugs hers as well and wipes off her chin, “Pretty good huh? It’s the king’s favorite.”

You choke on the next sip, “R-really? That’s cool.”

She chuckles, “Yeah, you kind of remind me of him. You’re both total weenies!”

“UNDYNE!”

She laughed some more, “Aw relax I’m kidding! Sort of.” She looks down at her empty glass, a thoughtful look in her eye.

“HEY UNDYNE, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL THE HUMAN ABOUT HOW YOU TRIED TO BEAT UP ASGORE-“ Papyrus teased.

She blushed, “Shut up Papyrus, the brat wouldn’t want to hear that.”

Your ears perked in curiosity, “Actually that sounds interesting.” She shot you a look, “Oh but um if you don’t want to share you don’t have to.” You sank further into the bench. I’m your house guest remember? Please don’t kill me.

She tilted her head to the side, surprised, “You’re interested in me?” Papyrus tensed at your side. She smiled sheepishly, “Well when I was a kid I was pretty hot-headed. Once, I wanted to prove I was the strongest, and I tried to fight Asgore.” She smirked when you gasped, and looked down at her empty glass again, tracing her thumb on the rim as she spoke, “I couldn’t land a single blow on him, and the whole time he refused to fight back. At the end he offered to teach me how to beat him.” She sighed and rested her chin in her hand, “He trained me and one day, while I was practicing I managed to knock him down, but I felt…bad.” she chuckled quietly to herself, “But he was beaming! I’ve never seen someone so happy to get their butt kicked before. Over time after that he made me the head of the Royal Guard and now I get to train all dorks how to fight now!”

“Wow that’s really cool Undyne!” You blurted out, and then blushed. She stared at you with an odd expression and you cleared your throat, “S-sorry I just think that it’s really cool that you had such a passion for becoming stronger and worked so hard.” Embarrassed you glanced down at your hands. You were so dumb sometimes.

“Thank you.” she muttered, and you glanced up at her, cheeks still feeling a little rosy. Then, she smirked and squinted at Papyrus, “Looks like I’m becoming her new best friend now! You’re gonna get replaced bone boy!”

“NO! THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!” Papyrus shifted a bit in his seat.

She chuckled for a moment and then scowled down at her cup, “You’re right. I’m not good at this. I don’t think I could be friends with a human.” She gripped the cup so hard it shattered in her grasp.

“WHY DON’T YOU COOK WITH THE HUMAN? THAT BROUGHT US CLOSER TOGETHER WHEN WE MADE SPAGHETTI! THEY KNOW A LOT OF RECIPES LIKE CHICKEN-NOODLE-NOT-SPAGHETTI-SOUP!”

She gave you a puzzled look, “This scrawny brat can cook?” She slapped her knee and threw back her head in a loud laugh, “Sure? Why the hell not? Let’s see what you got punk!”

“Are we serious right now?” you mutter as Undyne grabs your wrist and drags you to the fridge. You open it up and scan it’s contents. After a while you decide to make some tacos. You grab the ground beef, cheese, and salsa ingredients from the fridge. You were surprised that she had cilantro, a jalapeño, and lime, considering she only ever made spaghetti like Papyrus. Well, you shudder, if it was anything like Papyrus’ spaghetti maybe it wasn’t that surprising. She watched you curiously as you chopped up the tomatoes and onions.

“You should chop them with more force!” she says as she karate chops one of the tomatoes, splattering it all over the counter and the two of you. You giggle and wipe some tomato off your cheek.

“Well that’s definitely a new approach.” You scrape up what tomato you can into a bowl and add the onions, lime, and jalapeño. After that’s finished you grab a pan and drizzle a bit of oil in the bottom to prevent the meat from sticking and turn the heat to medium high.

“It needs to be hotter!” Undyne exclaims as she reaches for the knob and cranks up the heat. Wisps of smoke start to rise from the pan and you glance nervously at Papyrus. He gives you a knowing look and then focuses on the dial. Using his gravity magic he holds it in place and prevents Undyne from turning it further. She growls in frustration and tries harder to turn it, and you see sweat bead on Papyrus’ skull. After a bit she gives up and sighs heavily, “Stupid thing is broken.” she mutters, and you wink at Papyrus as he gives you a thumbs up.

“HEY UNDYNE, I HAVE AN IDEA. WHY NOT MAKE THIS A CHALLENGE FOR THE HUMAN? IF THEY PASS AND MAKE A DELICIOUS MEAL THEN YOU TWO WILL BECOME FRIENDS!” You smile at Papyrus, the sweet guy trying to save you again. It definitely would be a lot easier without interference.

Undyne grinned, “And if they fail, I’ll kill them and give their soul to Asgore!” You let out a strangled noise and dropped the spoon you had been using to stir the taco meat, but picked it up again quickly when Undyne laughed at you. “Relax you nerd I’m kidding.” She punches you, not so lightly, in the arm and you wince slightly.

She left the kitchen to you and decided to show Papyrus some combat moves in the living room. You watched carefully, keeping an eye on Papyrus, worrying that she might break his bones, but he was actually a lot tougher than he looked. You smiled and returned to your cooking and sprinkle the spices on the meat as cries of war and crashes filled the house.

Once it was all finished you nervously set the plates down on the broken table. Undyne sat down in front of hers and sniffed it critically. She sneered at it, “How do you know it’s done? There’s no black bits in it.”

You start to laugh until you realize she’s serious. “U-um.” You don’t want to hurt her feelings and can’t find the words to tell her that you’re not supposed to light everything on fire.

She takes a huge bite and her eyes widen, “Wow! Not bad!” She voraciously eats five more tacos.

“SEE? I TOLD YOU MY HUMAN WAS A GOOD COOK!” Papyrus brags proudly.

She pauses at the sixth taco, “Your human?”

“I UH DID I SAY THAT? I MEANT MY FRIEND…HUMAN FRIEND…JUST FRIEND NOT MY HUMAN…NYEH HEH…HEH….” Papyrus stuttered nervously, and her eye gleamed.

“Oh, now I understand.” She grinned mischievously and pounced on him, giving him a noogie. “You sly dog Papyrus! Why didn’t you tell me before?!” She said laughing as he cried out and tried to escape her grasp, but she had him firmly pinned down.

“PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!” He shrieked.

You shifted in your seat, and the sound alerted Undyne to the fact that you were still there as well. Her head whipped around, eye set on you now, “And you! You sneaky punk, c’mere!” She released Papyrus, tackled you and started to give you a noogie too.

“Eep!” You squealed, but you couldn’t get away from her firm hold.

“WAIT! DON’T NOOGIE THE HUMAN! NOOGIE THE SKELETON! NOOGIE THE SKELETON!” Papyrus said as he tugged on her shoulders, making her pause and look up at him in surprise.

As she stared at him, still sitting on you, his cheekbones started to glow pink. “Taking one for the punk huh? Man you got it bad.” She snickered as his cheekbones flushed a brighter shade, and shifted her body to squeeze you in a tight hug. “You guys are adorable! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!”

“I….can’t….breathe!” you wheezed. Reflexively, you moved your hand up to tap on her forearm twice and she released you immediately. You inhale a deep breath and lay on your back on the floor.

“HUMAN! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“What?”

“HOW DID YOU ESCAPE FROM UNDYNE SO EASILY?!” He stepped over to you and gazed into your face with wonder.

“I tapped out? Um have you ever seen MMA fights before?” You were actually surprised that Undyne seemed to know what that meant. Well maybe not that surprised. They had bad romance comedies wash up now and then. Why not fighting videos too?

Undyne snorted, “Yeah Papyrus, everyone knows that.”

He pouted as he helped you up, “WELL I DIDN’T KNOW THAT.”

Undyne grinned, “Well of course I didn’t tell you that. Couldn’t have you wuss out when we grapple!” 

“YOU’VE ALMOST BROKEN MY RIBS THREE TIMES!”

She wagged her finger at him, “Almost. I didn’t, did I?”

Papyrus crossed his arms and huffed and you tried to stifle a giggle behind your hand. Then, Papyrus tilted his head to the side as an idea came to mind, “HEY UNDYNE,” he smirked at her, “HOW ARE THINGS GOING WITH YOUR SECRET CRUSH?”

“Oh would you look at the time! You two should really get going!” She laughed nervously as she pushed you guys out the door. You swore you could see the hint of a blush on her cheeks as she slammed the door behind you.

You raised a brow at him, “What was that?”

He shrugged, “NOT SURE. SHE HAS A CRUSH ON SOMEONE BUT HASN’T TOLD ME WHO. SHE HASN’T GOTTEN THE COURAGE TO ADMIT IT TO THEM YET.”

“Oh, well that wasn’t very nice to tease her.” You smile and shove him playfully.

“WELL SHE STARTED IT!” he defended and shoved you back with a laugh.

Impulsively, as you walked back to the end of Waterfall, you grasped his hand and stroked his metacarpals with your thumb. You really loved that pink tint on his cheekbones. He hesitated at the end of Waterfall and scratched the back of his skull with his free hand.

Neither of you were sure of what to say now.

“Thank you for coming to help me.” You mumble shyly, looking at the boney fingers clasped between your fleshy ones.

“OF COURSE! SANS ACTUALLY SUGGESTED I COME TO CHECK ON YOU.” He beamed.

“Oh, that’s very kind of him.” you look up and smile, but it fades to a slight frown. You didn’t want to go through your journey alone. You really liked having Papyrus along.

“ARE YOU OK HUMAN? IS IT SOMETHING I DID?” Papyrus’ eyes glowed with concern.

“No you were wonderful!” You blush and loosened your grip on his hand, meaning to pull back and continue on but he held you tight.

“HUMAN.” He said a bit more seriously, and used his free hand to stroke your face. His eye sockets were almost completely black, and he gazed at you with a sense of reverence and protectiveness it made your heart flutter and dance within your chest. He leaned closer and rested his forehead against yours, “HUMAN. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’D DO IF YOU GOT HURT. WILL YOU LET ME COME WITH YOU?” His smile took on a shy expression, “BUT IF YOU DON’T WANT ME TO I CAN RETURN TO SNOWDIN.”

“I-I’d love to have y-you come with me.” you manage to stutter out as the fire in your cheeks seemed to move to the back of your neck as well. Papyrus was more than happy to relieve that pressure as he pressed his teeth to kiss your lips and muttered that he loved how soft you were. He continued to kiss down your neck, the coolness of his teeth a nice contrast to the fire burning under your skin. He chuckled against the skin of your neck when you squealed at the light nibble he gave you. You decide to retaliate and kissed all along his mandible, down the cervical vertebrae of his neck to his clavicle. His body shivered under your lips as you traced up and down his clavicle.

“HU-HUMAN THAT TICKLES!” He moaned but didn’t try to stop you. You traced up his clavicle one more time and kissed up the cervical vertebrae, flicking out your tongue and he moaned out again and you giggled through the kisses up along his mandible. Once you were up to his face again, you held his face with both your hands, stroking his jaw bones as you pressed your lips to his teeth. He sighed happily but seemed disappointed when you finally pulled away.

He grasped your hand in his again and lead you past a sign that read ‘WELCOME TO HOTLAND!’ This time he stroked his thumb over the back of your hand as he lead you on, “COME ON HUMAN! LET’S FIND A WAY TO THE SURFACE TOGETHER!”

You chuckle to yourself as you let yourself be pulled along, gazing at the back of his skull. You were so happy to have your skelefriend along.


	8. Darling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey darlings! I was able to write one more for you guys before I head out of town! Yay!
> 
> Also, I know Papyrus normally wears gloves but he likes to feel the reader's skin and softness when he holds their hand so he's taken them off :3 Not sure if that qualifies as a head canon or not (probably not) but I'll be writing as if he doesn't generally wear them.

Papyrus had released your hand as he chattered on excitedly about Undyne and how she started training him. You gasped in surprise when he proudly mentioned how he impressed her by staying outside her house all night long until she agreed to train him. It was admirable. And maybe a little creepy.

When a small sentry post came into view Papyrus stopped talking abruptly and ran ahead. You laughed to yourself and jogged to catch up.

“SANS! ARE YOU SLEEPING?” Papyrus asked, shaking his head at his brother.

“i was but my nap was erupted.” sans yawned sleepily, smirking at his brother.

You giggle as you finally caught up to Papyrus and sans looks at you, raising a brow bone.

“hey kid, how was undyne’s?”

You shrug, “She still scares me a bit, but she seems really cool. I’d like to get to know her better someday.”

His smile seemed a bit more genuine, “i’m glad you had fun. she always tries tibia tough guy but she’s got a kind heart in there some where.”

“WHEN SHE’S NOT TRYING TO SNAP YOU IN HALF.” Papyrus grumbled to himself, causing you to giggle more. He flashes a smile at you, seeming proud of himself that sans isn’t the only one that can make you laugh.

sans rests his chin in his hand and yawns again, “so where you guys headed now?”

“WELL THE HUMAN IS VERY WEAK SO I AM ESCORTING THEM TO TALK TO THE KING!”

“Hey!” you frown up at Papyrus, and he pats you on the head.

“DO NOT WORRY HUMAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE WEAK THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HERE TO PROTECT YOU!” You cross your arms and pout. He may be right, but the idea of Papyrus protecting you seemed nice. You blush slightly.

You thought you saw sans watching you in the corner of your eye, but when you looked at him, the lights in his eyes were focused on Papyrus. “don’t forget to say hi to alphys. i’m sure she’d love to see the human.”

“GREAT IDEA SANS! COME ALONG HUMAN!” Papyrus strode confidently toward the bridge, grasping your wrist to make sure you followed. You tried to stop him, but his grip was firm, and his steps confident. You glance back to wave an apology for leaving so abruptly to sans, but when you turned around the sentry station was empty. You sigh quietly. Abruptly disappearing or running off must just be normal behavior for these two.

Papyrus released your wrist after you made it to the other side of the bridge and inched away slightly, but matched his pace with yours. As you walked side by side, both avoiding eye contact, but shyly sneaking glances at each other, you smile to yourself. He could be so confident one moment, and bashful the next. You grab his hand again, intertwining your fingers through his boney ones and squeeze. His cheekbones glow pink as he glances down at you, “Is this ok, Paps?”

“I-IT’S AMAZING!” He says truthfully, and you blush as well.

Looking forward again you see a large, mysterious laboratory. Papyrus seems excited and quickens his pace, dragging you slightly.

He bangs on the door, “ALPHYS! ARE YOU HOME? ALPHYS!”

You hear footsteps on the other side of the door, and a small voice, “P-papyrus? Wh-what are you d-doing here?”

Papyrus grins at the door, “WHY I AM HERE TO VISIT WITH YOU OF COURSE!”

“Oh, oh no. I don’t know if-if I can. Um, could you come back a-another day or ma-maybe a month?” the voice stuttered nervously.

“WHY WOULD I DO THAT WHEN I AM HERE RIGHT NOW? PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR ALPHYS I BROUGHT SOMEONE TO MEET YOU!”

“Oh, no th-that makes it worse. Wh-what should I do?” the voice fades further away and it’s hard to make out what she’s saying. Then the voice, still muffled by the closed door, gets louder again, “O-ok I’m going t-to open the door now.” There’s a click as the door is unlocked.

Papyrus pushes the door open and leads you inside. It’s really dark inside, and you huddle closer to him, feeling anxious and afraid of losing him in the shadows. Then, suddenly, lights flash on. You gasp in surprise and blink away the temporary blindness.

When your vision focuses you see a large screen with your face on it. Oh. Um, well, that’s a thing. With your face. Not sure how to feel about that one.

“Oh um th-that’s from one of my security cameras.” the small voice says from behind you.

You turn around as Papyrus releases your hand to squint at the screen, stroking his chin thoughtfully. There’s a small, yellow dinosaur-like monster cowering near the light switches. She pushes up her glasses and laughs nervously under your gaze. You smile sweetly at her. She seemed nice.

“Hi! You must be Alphys!” You walk up to her calmly and extend out your hand.

“Oh no! My reputation proceeds me!” she gasps, hands flying to a face that was turning redder by the second. “You pr-probably heard some really embarrassing things about me.” She looks away sadly.

“No that’s not it! sans just suggested that I meet you.” You smile again, and return your hand to your side. Maybe shaking hands was too much pressure for her. You glance around the room to see if there was something you could talk to her about to make her feel more comfortable. Your eyes land on the huge screen again, “So security cameras? That sounds pretty cool. What do you do?”

She pushes her glasses up again nervously, and then looks down at her hands, “Well I’m the Royal Scientist, but I also do surveillance all over the Underground. I’ve uh been keeping an eye on your journey…” she drifted off and sighed.

“Wow! A Royal Scientist? And surveillance too? That’s so cool!”

She looked up at you in surprise, “Y-you think I’m cool?”

“Yeah!” you say as Papyrus returns to your side. “Could you tell me more about what you do or is it super secret?”

She laughs shyly and walks over to her desk with a mess of papers and discarded instant noodle containers, “It’s not really secret, but it’s not interesting either. I’ve um been watching you go through the Underground and all the friendships you made.” she glances at Papyrus and then you, smiling slightly, “Y-you seem like a very kind person and I was hoping to get the chance to m-meet you.”

You grin and walk over to stand by her side as tries to organize some of her papers, “Well I’m very glad I got to meet you too!”

“WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL THE HUMAN ABOUT METTATON!?” Papyrus exclaimed, seeming slightly annoyed.

Alphys blushed and shuffled some more papers. Your curiosity was peaked, “What’s a mettaton?”

Her blush deepens, “N-not what, who. He-he’s um a robot that I created.”

Your eyes widen and you clap your hands, “A robot!? That’s amazing!!”

She looks at you in shock, “It is?” She looks down at her desk again and starts to pile up another random stack of papers, “Speaking of Mettaton there’s something I need to tell you. I designed him to be a celebrity in the Underground and before you came he mentioned wanting to go the Surface-“

A loud crash interrupts her, and then a firm hold wraps around your waist, yanking you off your feet and slamming you against something cold.

“Alphys, darling. It’s not polite to gossip about others.” A metallic voice booms from behind you. A square robot with flashing lights on the front was holding you tight against their body. Mettaton you assumed. The lights on the robot’s face(?) flash as it’s body tilts slightly toward you. “And you must be the human I’ve heard so much about! You’ve certainly made a name for yourself down here!”

“Mettaton!” Alphys exclaimed, but the robot ignored her. He spun you around so you were facing him, but his arm was still holding you in place.

“Yes, as she was saying I planned to take your human soul to cross the barrier and become a star on the surface!” Mettaton exclaimed proudly. That didn’t sound good.

“METTATON! I MAY LOVE YOUR SHOWS BUT I WON’T LET YOU HURT THE HUMAN!” Papyrus glared at him and pounced, but Mettaton glided away, chuckling robotically.

You squirmed under his grasp, but it was useless. You couldn’t get away.

“The switch on his back! If you flip it he’ll be vulnerable!” Alphys shouted.

That distracted him, and his grip relaxed slightly, “Oh Alphys what did I just say about gossip?” While he chastised her, you quickly reached around and flipped the switch. A loud boom filled the air and smoke blinded you. Coughing and trying to wave away the smoke as your eyes teared up, you heard a voice exclaim, “Oh yes!”

Once the smoke cleared your jaw dropped. The blocky robot had transformed into a tall, confident, bipedal robot with fantastic hair and gorgeous legs. He smiled and flipped his bangs out of his face as he did a high kick in the air, “Oh you naughty naughty human! I haven’t debuted my new body to the public yet, because it’s not finished but I suppose I’ll allow a sneak peak.” Before you could come back to your senses from the shock he grasped your wrist in one hand, and placed his other on your lower back. You struggled against the hold, but there was no way to break from his iron grip. He smiled down at you, not even noticing your futile efforts to break free, “Now as I was saying-“

Papyrus attempted to tackle him again, but he twirled out of the way with you. He danced with you across the laboratory floor as he spoke, effortlessly dodging Papyrus with a spin or sidestep. “I had planned on taking your soul and becoming famous on the Surface.” He released your lower back and spun you around three times and then brought you back, holding you in a tight embrace. Papyrus growled in frustration and tried to tackle him again, but he pirouetted out of the way, eyes still locked with yours. “However, after hearing of your journey here and the admiration of all the monsters you’ve befriended I changed my mind.” He scooped you up in his arms and leapt over another one of Papyrus’ attacks, “You truly are an amazing creature.” He says as he sets you back down and continues the dance. His voice suddenly changes to a whisper, “So instead of taking your soul, I decided I’ll take you.” He spins again and you’re really starting to feel dizzy. He elegantly dips you low, still holding you tight around your waist, and you realize your heartbeat is going crazy. He leans closer to your face, and uses one hand to stroke your cheek, “Yes, my darling, wouldn’t it be so much more lovely if I dated such a fine creature as you?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Papyrus shouted and stomped his foot.

Still in the dip, the blood was starting to rush to your head, but he mercifully let you stand once more. Mettaton glared over you at Papyrus and hissed, “Oh go crawl back in your crypt bone boy, this doesn’t concern you.”

Anger filled your dizzy mind. No one talks to your Paps that way. Your dizzy mind wasn’t thinking clearly but you didn't care. You raised a hand and smacked Mettaton across his stupid arrogant face. A metallic twang echoed across the laboratory, and Mettaton’s face didn’t even move. He was still glaring at Papyrus. He didn’t notice you had slapped him until you yelped in pain and grasped your hopefully-not-broken hand with your good one.

“Did…you…slap me darling?” Mettaton whispers, looking down at you.   
“Yeah.” You say as you wince. Your hand really hurts. Mettaton releases you like you might burn him and shakes his head.

“Sorry darling, but a love scandal would not do well for my ratings.” he glanced at Alphys, “And would you please finish my new form? My fans are dying to see it.” He walked over to Papyrus, and clapped a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry Papyrus, I didn’t mean to try to steal them from you. I hadn’t realized they were spoken for. Take care of them for me alright?” He looked over his shoulder and winked, “And if you get bored with him, give me a call darling.”

Mettaton laughed as he strode his way toward the door, ignoring the enraged Papyrus yelling at him about how he was so great you would never be bored with him and would definitely never call a stinky tin can. Once Mettaton was gone you walked over to calm your poor skele-boyfriend. You stroked his radius with your good hand, and he looked down at you sadly, “YOU WON’T GET BORED WITH ME WILL YOU?”

“Of course not! I love you!” You smile up at him.

He sighs with relief and squeezes you in a tight hug, “I LOVE YOU TOO HUMAN.” Then he glares at the door where Mettaton had exited, “AND I DO LIKE METTATON, BUT ONLY IN HIS SHOWS. WHEN HE IS MY RIVAL OF LOVE I DO NOT LIKE HIM VERY MUCH.”

You giggle into his clavicle until he releases you. He reaches to hold your hand again, but unfortunately he grabs your injured one. You suck in a breath and wince at the pain.

“OH NO HUMAN DID I HURT YOU?” His eye sockets widen as he lets go and takes a step away from you.

“No, Paps I’m ok. My hand just stings a bit after stupidly slapping Mettaton.”

His eye sockets flashed with concern, “YES THAT WAS QUITE STUPID. WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT? YOU’RE VERY SQUISHY AND FRAGILE HUMAN.”

You roll your eyes and blush slightly, mumbling, “Because I didn’t like what he said to you.” 

Alphys suddenly appeared at your side and gently held your injured hand in hers. “Nothing seems to be broken, but it is bruising slightly.” she smiled at you shyly, “Th-that was really brave of you, to defend your love. It reminded me of this anime-“ she cut off and looked down at your hand again, “uh never mind.” 

As Papyrus looked down worriedly at your hand you grinned at Alphys, “You like anime too? That’s awesome! We should watch some together sometime!” She returned your smile. You shiver as Papyrus’ cold boney fingers lightly trace along your palm.

“ALPHYS IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO FIX THE HUMAN?”

She shook her head at first, but then thought for a moment. “You could try using some of your magic to ease the pain.”

“THAT’S A GREAT IDEA!” Papyrus furrowed his brow bones in concentration as he lightly rested the tips of his phalanges on your palm. His face seemed a little strained, but soon orange sparks were dancing down his boney fingers and diving into your palm. You gasp in surprise as you watch them. Whenever one disappeared into your flesh it sent a tingle up your arm and glowed beneath your skin. Eventually the pain ebbed away completely and the bruise faded away.

You flexed your fingers and grinned up at him, “Thank you Paps!” You stand up on your tip toes to kiss him on the bone between his eye sockets.

“ACK!” he shrieks, jerking straight up and covering his face and you giggle. 

You turn to Alphys and pull out your cell phone, “Could I have your number? I’ll call you when I have a free night for an anime marathon!”

“I uh do better with texting.” She replied tentatively.

“Oh.” you frown at your phone, “Mine doesn’t do texting.”

“What?!” she exclaimed and snatched the phone from your hand, “Let me fix that for you!” She ran off somewhere before you could say another word.

As quick as she disappeared, she was back and handed you your phone proudly, “There! I also signed you up for the Underground social network, Undernet, and added my phone number to the contacts.”

“Thanks Alphys!” you say as you give her a big hug. She seems taken aback, but stiffly hugs you back.

“ALRIGHT HUMAN WE MUST GET GOING, WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO.” Papyrus says and offers you his hand.

You take it and wave goodbye to Alphys, thanking her once more for the upgraded cell phone and promising you’ll text her soon for an anime night.

As you return to the heat of Hotland, you glance up at Papyrus and think about him trying to get you away from Mettaton. You giggle quietly, even though Mettaton had forced you to dance with him, he hadn’t really seriously threatened you, but your poor sweet Papyrus had been so jealous. You squeezed his hand and he glanced down at you, slightly confused as to why you were grinning so wide at him.

“WHAT IS IT HUMAN?”

“You were jealous.” you smirk.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.” He said and started walking faster.

“Oh I think you do.”

“NO I DON’T!” he protests.

“You were so jealous!” you laugh as his cheekbones glow pink. He stops abruptly and pulls you in front of him, his face turned serious.

He glances to the side as he speaks, “OK, MAYBE IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I FELT A LITTLE JEALOUS.” He gazed at you, “BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. I DIDN’T LIKE SEEING THAT ROBOT’S ARMS AROUND YOU.” He pulled you close against his body, and stroked the back of your head, “I SHOULD BE THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO DO THIS.”


	9. 7277

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone I'm back! Did you miss me? :3 I really missed writing for you guys and my phone is full of notes for this story and a few others I thought of while I was gone! I hope you'll like them!
> 
> P.S. I am going to try and fix some of the grammatical mistakes and typos I've made in Rewind and Replay and this story. If anyone out there would like to help me and volunteer to be a beta reader let me know!  
> skelegirl.fanfic@gmail.com  
>    
> P.P.S. I'm sure it's obvious but just in case I will explain who is the texter here:  
> * - Alphys  
> ** - Reader  
> *** - Mettaton

*I can not believe some think that MewMew: Kissy-Cutie 2 is better than the first one! 

You giggle at your phone, happy that Alphas is reaching out to you, and type a reply:

**I haven’t seen MewMew: Kissy-Cutie yet.

*WHAT?! You have to watch it! It’s one of the best anime out there!!

You chuckle again. She seemed a lot more confident when she didn’t have to talk to you face-to-face. Papyrus sighs, seeming slightly annoyed that your attention was not currently focused on him.

**Ok let me know when you’re free so we can have that marathon. Have you heard of Fruits Basket?

*Yes! I haven’t seen that one yet, but I heard it’s really cute!

**The anime doesn’t explore the plot as much as the manga, but it’s still really good. You watch that and I’ll watch MewMew ok?

*Ok! :) :) :)

You laugh again at the little emoticons and Papyrus huffs. “I’m sorry, Paps. Look, I’ll put it away now, ok?”

Your phone buzzes again and you glance at it as Papyrus grumbles something about you falling in lava if you don’t watch where you're going. You furrow your brows. This isn't a number you recognize. Curious, you open up the message.

***Hello, Darling! Perhaps this will convince you to ditch that gangly pile of bones!

You scroll down a bit further and your face heats up hotter than the volcano you’re walking in. It’s a glamor shot of Mettaton Ex (Alphys had kindly informed you of his new form’s name earlier). He’s laying on his side, head propped up in one hand while his other hand is covering one eye, smiling widely at the camera. His right leg is tucked underneath him, and his left one is thrust high in the air.

Suddenly your phone is very slippery. It bounces back and forth between your palms, and the blood rushing to your head is making it hard to focus on the small rectangle. Eventually, it frees itself from your sweaty palms, and time seems to slow as you watch it fall to the ground. You can practically hear the sickening crunch you know it will make as it hits the rocky terrain beneath your feet. You close your eyes and brace yourself.

But…

The crunch never came.

You peek open one eye and gasp in surprise. Boney fingers were clutch around the device and Papyrus was shaking his head. “HONESTLY HUMAN. YOU SHOULD REALLY WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING, OR AT THE VERY LEAST, TAKE CARE OF THIS CELL PHONE.” You open both eyes and smile at him sheepishly. He squints at you. “WHY IS YOUR FACE SO RED?” He glances down at the phone and raises a brow bone. “IS IT SOMETHING ON HERE?”

“No!” You exclaim and reach out to grab the phone. You had no idea why Mettaton sent you that. It was embarrassing, and you didn’t want Papyrus to get the wrong idea. He spins away from you and tries to unlock the screen. You try to reach around him to grab it, but he puts a hand on your forehead and holds you further away. Damn you tall skeleton.

“HOW DO I UNLOCK IT?” He asks, the lights in his eyes glow with a strange light.

Your body sags, you lean into his hand, and mumble, “It’s 7277.”

He taps in the passcode and inhales sharply as he sees Mettaton’s picture. He releases your forehead, and with the sudden lack of support, you fall to your knees. He hands the phone back to you without meeting your eyes. Once you’ve taken the phone from him, he silently starts to walk away.

“Wait!” you call out and scramble up from your knees. Even though he’s only walking, his long strides easily increase the distance between you, and you have to jog to catch up. Once you’re close enough, you grab the end of his scarf, and tug lightly. He hesitates, but doesn’t turn around. You lean forward, and rest your forehead on his spine, gasping for air. Running and burning inferno. Not the best combo.

He’s very quiet as he waits for you to speak. It made you more nervous, and you miss his cheerful banter. You release his scarf and stroke the back of his spine, relishing in the cool feeling against your heated skin. He shivers slightly at your touch. “HUMAN. I-I UNDERSTAND IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE WITH ME. I AM VERY GREAT, BUT I AM NOT YET FAMOUS.” His body shudders again and you hear a slight sob, “METTATON IS QUITE AMAZING. AND TALENTED. AND GORGEOUS. I WILL NOT STOP YOU IF YOU WISH TO BE WITH HIM.”

“Paps.” you whisper, still leaning against his spine. His skull is tilted down, and he won’t turn to look at you. You sigh into his vertebrae and glide your fingers up and down the bumps and ridges of his spine. He lets out a soft moan and you smile, pressing kisses along each vertebrae that’s exposed beneath his halter top. You love the soft rattle his bones make as he shivers again, and you gently grab his hip bone, turning him and making him face you.

The lights in his eyes glow with such sadness it makes your heart ache. You reach up and stroke his mandible lightly. He sighs quietly, and the lights in his eyes fade away. His jaws part slightly as you trace your fingers along his skull, down the cervical vertebrae to his clavicle. With your other hand, you reach up underneath his shirt and stroke the lowest rib and he groans. He grasps your wrists and pulls them away from his body, holding them together in front of you. The lights in his eyes are back, but they’re hazy and accompanied by a pink glow of his cheekbones. The lights of his eyes flicker back and forth between yours, and he whispers, “WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL GOOD?”

You blush again, but don’t break your gaze. “Because I love you, Papyrus. I’ve said it so many times, and I’ll keep saying it until you believe me. You’re so amazing and sincere with everyone you meet, and you’re not afraid to try something new like a recipe or dating a human. You really do have a talent with making puzzles that are challenging and fun.” His grip had loosened at your words, and you lifted your hand to stroke his mandible again. “And you’re gorgeous, Papyrus. I love everything about you. I love how excited you get. I love your cheerful banter.” Now you use both your hands to trace along his skull and he sighs happily, leaning into your shoulder. You stroke the back of his cervical vertebrae and chuckle as he shivers when you fingers trace the back of his ribs. You whisper, “I love you, Papyrus.”

His arms wrap you up in a tight squeeze. “I DO LOVE YOU TOO HUMAN, BUT-“ He drops you abruptly and steps back. His boney hand tracing over your lips, “I AM NOT FAMOUS AND I DO NOT HAVE LIPS. HE’S RIGHT. YOU’RE SO SQUISHY AND WARM AND SOFT, BUT I’M JUST A PILE OF BONES.” He sinks to his knees and stares at his hands. 

You roll your eyes, but he doesn’t see it. “And, like you said, Mettaton is just a stinky tin can. Remember?”

Papyrus doesn’t say anything and you sigh, kicking the dirt in front of you. It was so strange that Papyrus could have his confidence knocked out from under him so easily when it involved you.

“Hey, Paps.” you say as you settle down next to him.

“WHAT?” he pouts, still staring at his hands.

You scoot closer and rest your head on his clavicle, “Who was it that was so kind to me, and helped me find a room to stay in at Snowed Inn?”

“ME.” he muttered.

“And who was it that took me on so many wonderful dates?”

“ME.” he sighs.

“And who won our first tickle fight?”

“ME.” He still won’t look at you.

“And who kissed first?” You shift your body so you’re sitting in front of him.

He lifts up his head and finally meets your gaze, “WELL, THAT ONE WAS YOU.”

You nod happily, “That’s right. I chose you, Papyrus.” You press a kiss to his teeth and giggle as his magic tickles your lips. After a moment you pull away and wink, “And a smelly tin can isn’t going to change that.”

You stand up, brush the dust off your pants, and extend your hand out to him. He eagerly grasps it, and jumps up. “ALRIGHT! NOW IF WE ARE DONE COMFORTING YOU ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WE SHOULD REALLY GET GOING!” With that he started tugging you along again, and you just shook your head and laughed. You loved this skeleton.

Eventually you entered a room that had a broken path and numerous vents with arrows printed on them, pointing in different directions. You inched closer to the edge to see if you could leap across, but felt yourself slipping and clung to Papyrus tightly. He pulled you away from the edge and patted your head.

Your phone buzzed and Papyrus stiffened when you retrieved it from your pocket. You raised a brow and offered the phone to him, but he shook his head and said he trusted you. You kissed him lightly on the clavicle and he blushed. Still, you had nothing to hide, so when you unlocked the phone you held it so Papyrus could read as well.

*This room can be a bit tricky. The vents will launch you to each platform. You’ll have to find the path to make it through.

**Thanks Alphys!

You sigh with relief after the text sent. You really had not been excited about the idea of jumping over pits of lava. Your phone buzzed again.

*There’s uh two puzzles that you need to solve to the left and right before the door will open at the top. I’d tell you the path to get through, but it’s all changed.

**That’s ok, thanks again!

You stuffed the phone back in your pocket and looked up at Papyrus, who was stroking his chin thoughtfully. “I THINK I MAY HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION.”

Your eyes widened, and you said, “Really? Already?”

He turns to you and his grin widens. “BUT OF COURSE! THIS IS NOTHING FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He steps onto a platform and squeals in surprise as it launches him forward.

“Papyrus!” you exclaim in concern.

“IT’S ALRIGHT HUMAN. I AM FINE!” he shouts back. You giggle as you watch him straighten up, still a little shaky, and approaches another vent. He seems a little flustered as he gets stuck in a loop, but eventually he makes his way to the end on the left. He waves back to you and shouts, “OK HUMAN! DO IT JUST LIKE THAT!”

You roll your eyes and step on the first vent. The rush of air steals your breath, and you can’t help but feel slightly unsettled as your stomach flies to your throat, and plummets to your shoes when you land. Papyrus calls out to you but you wave him away as you wait for your legs to stop wobbling.

You heave a huge sigh of relief when you finally catch up to Papyrus. He doesn’t wait long however. Once your legs stopped shaking he had run off to go find the puzzle. He already solved it by the time you reached him, and he looped his arm around your lower back and guided you back to the vents. “THAT PUZZLE WAS FAR TOO SIMPLE!” he scoffed as he stroked your back. “WHY DON’T YOU WAIT AT THE DOOR AND I’LL SOLVE THE NEXT PUZZLE?”

“Ok.” You try to mask your relief but he sees right through you. He presses a skelekiss to your forehead and ruffles your hair.

You can’t help but gasp and clench your fist over your heart every time you see him fly through the air. He makes quick work of the second puzzle and not-so-gracefully glides back to you, leaping from vent to vent. He teeters slightly as he lands in front of you, but as he gains his balance, he throws his arms up in the air in a triumphant pose. You run toward him and hold him tight. His body stiffens in surprise, but he squeezes you back and presses a kiss to the top of your head. You shiver in delight as his magic tickles you.

You continue on, hand in boney hand, and come across another room filled with vents. You groan in frustration, and Papyrus squeezes your hand gently. “DO NOT WORRY HUMAN. I AM SURE I WILL BE ABLE TO SOLVE THESE PUZZLES JUST AS EASILY.” He looked across the room thoughtfully, then turned to you and asked, “WHY DON’T YOU WAIT HERE FOR A MOMENT?”

He leaps onto the vent before you can reply and you just smile and shake your head. You sit down on a rock off to the side while you wait for him to return. After a few moments, you pull out your phone and scroll through the texts, and shake your head. You delete Mettaton’s texts, not even bothering to reply. He seemed nice, but you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. 

Eventually Papyrus returns with a huge grin on his face. He holds his arms out to you. “ALRIGHT HUMAN THE DOOR SHOULD BE OPEN!” You push yourself off the rock and prepare yourself for the weird sensation of flying up and down in the air. You weren’t prepared for what Papyrus did next. Once you were close enough he looped his left arm around your shoulders, and his right arm behind your knees, scooping you up and holding you close to his ribcage. “DO NOT BE AFRAID HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NEVER LET YOU FALL!” He gave you a tight squeeze and then stepped on the vent. You cry out in surprise and clutch his scarf in your hand and bury your face in his ribcage. It vibrates softly as he chuckles, and you close your eyes. The sensation is still there, but it’s not as unpleasant as it had been before. Together, you manage to stay upright between each launch, and it’s not nearly as terrible as it had been when you were flailing uselessly in the air alone. You squeeze your eyes shut tight until the sensations finally stop. Papyrus nuzzles the top of your head, encouraging you to look up, and you gaze at his triumphant smile. His cheekbones are slightly pink and he sets you down gently, “SEE? I DIDN’T LET YOU FALL.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone figure out why I chose the passcode to be 7277? ^.^ I'll give you a hint. Look at the letters on the number pad of a phone.


	10. Li'l Miss Muffet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie so much enthusiasm from yesterday's update. Thank you so much!! I didn't realize so many were waiting for me to come back. :) Thank you all for the kind words and support!
> 
> sans is back hooray! This chapter ended up being quite a bit longer than I intended, but once I got started I just couldn't stop. I hope this makes up for my little hiatus. XD

“Honestly sans you should have seen them! Such a delightful creature.” Mettaton giggled to himself.

“uh huh.” you sigh, not really listening.

You saw him spin around just outside of your view, “Can you imagine what having a lovely creature like that on my hip would do for my ratings?!”

You grunt again and let your skull fall back against the wall of MTT Resort with a dull thunk.

Mettaton smirked and swayed his hips suggestively, “Oh yes I can imagine that I would be a lot more fun than that gangly scoundrel they’re with right now.”

You sigh louder this time and look away from him. He skips back into your view and you scowl at him.

“And while I don’t want to get caught in a scandal; I can’t help but try to win them over.” He claps his hands in front of him excitedly, leaning forward way too close to your face and says, “Guess what I did?”

“what?” You grumble, doing nothing to hide your irritation.

He smirks and stands up and sways his hips suggestively again. You silently thank your anatomy that you have no stomach, otherwise you would’ve puked. “Why I sent them a glamor shot modeling my new completed body!” He spun around and swayed his backside in front of you and flipped his hair. “Don’t you just love it?!”

“no.” you say flatly and he pouts.

“Oh sans! Don’t be like that! I know you do! Why else would you be hanging out around my resort for the last week?” He spins again and strokes your mandible in his cold, steely grasp. Ugh, maybe you could still puke. “Don’t lie to me. You wanted to see my new body even more than my fans!”

You jerk your chin out of his grasp and growl, “like hell i would!”

His face looks hurt, and you actually think your words punctured through his thick ego. It’s fleeting however, as he flips his hair and his cocky smile returns. “sansy, sansy, sans.” He shakes his head and chuckles, “For a skeleton you really do wear your heart on your sleeve, don’t you?”

“shut your trap, mettaton.”

“What? No pun?” Mettaton snickers.

* * *

 

“Paps, look!” you exclaim and run ahead excitedly. It was a small bake sale, and a purple spider lady in a red dress was standing behind the table. You won’t lie, the spider lady unnerved you, but she seemed nice. If only she would stop staring at you with all five of her eyes.

Papyrus slowly followed you, stopping just shy of the table. “MUFFET.” he said flatly.

“Papyrus.” she replied curtly with a stiff nod.

You raise an eyebrow, and say, “Oh, you two know each other?”

Muffet smirked, and each of her eyes blinked around her head slowly, causing you to shiver. “Yes, I suppose that would be the best way to explain it.”

Papyrus snorted and turned away. Oh well, maybe it would be best not to pry. You lean over the table and look over the baked goodies. You point at a deliciously flaky looking croissant. “How much would it be for one of those?”

She grinned at you, “Why it’s only 9999G. How many would you like?”

You curl your finger back into your fist and shirk away. “Um, I don’t have that much money.”

She clicked her tongue with distaste. “Well, that’s a pity. I am trying to raise money to save our spider kin trapped in the ruins.” She waved some of her hands at you in a shooing motion. “If you have no money, then you’re just wasting my time.”

You chew the inside of your cheek, feeling hurt at her harsh words, but you weren’t going to give her a response. You grab Papyrus’ hand and pull him with you further down the pathway without looking back. As you two continue on the path takes a much blacker hue. You hesitate at the sinister doorway, and cling to Papyrus’ arm. He gives your hand a light squeeze and smiles down at you. “DO NOT WORRY HUMAN. I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU!”

His words fill you with determination as you step through the doorway. It’s very dark and musty, and you can barely see more than a few feet in front of you. You hear scuttling and scurrying along the walls and floor behind you, sending an icy chill down your back. Walking further down the corridor, you saw cobwebs strewn about the floor. Yuck.

“Did you hear what they just said?” A small voice giggles from above.

“They said a human would come through here soon.” Another replies.

“I heard they hate spiders.” A third chimes in, and you cling to Papyrus again.

“Yes, I heard they love to stomp on them.”

The ground starts to feel really sticky and your steps slow. Laughter chitters around you and you feel like something is crawling on the back of their neck. “I heard they like to tear their legs off. Wouldn’t it be fun if we tore off the human’s?” The laughter echoes throughout the cavern and you try to swallow the sick feeling in the back of your throat. Papyrus senses your discomfort, and wraps his arm around your shoulders protectively. Then, a large spotlight illuminates the floor in front of you, temporarily blinding your vision.

Blinking back spots, you see Muffet standing in the middle of the spotlight, one of her hands covering her mouth as she snickers.

“MUFFET I HAVE A FEW WORDS I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE-“ Muffet glares at Papyrus and a web shoots out from the darkness, sealing his jaws shut. “MM!” His shriek is muffled by the cobwebs clinging to his teeth, and he futilely tries to pull them off.

“Sorry dearie, but I really couldn’t care less about what you have to say.” Muffet turns to you again, and sneers. “And you. You cheap little brat.” You see Papyrus still struggling to get the spider’s thread off his jaws, but you’re too afraid to break eye contact with Muffet. But you’re not quite sure which eyes you should be looking at. “ Are you really so heartless that you'd be willing to turn your back on my kin and let them die in the ruins?”

Spiders? In the ruins? Why did that sound so familiar?

You don’t really have time to think about that right now as Muffet raises her hands high in the air. Spiders pour down from the ceiling by the hundreds and you scream as they fall toward you. You dip and weave around them as they launch themselves toward you, but Muffet was making it difficult as she threw magical attacks in the form of pastries toward you. You didn't notice the thin threads wrapping around your body until you tripped, and unable to move your arms to catch yourself, you fell on your face to the floor.

“MM-MM!!” Papyrus attempts to exclaim and tries to move toward you. You scream as the floor disappears beneath you and you’re dangling upside down from the ceiling. “MMMM!!” Papyrus tries to call again, his eye sockets wide and arms flailing wildly.

“My, my how rude of me!” You glance back at Muffet as she snickers. “I forgot to introduce you to my pet, and it’s almost lunch time!” The thread binding you to the ceiling begins to sway and you see Papyrus wobble as the ground below begins to shake. You cry out in terror as a spider-cupcake monster settles beneath you and opens it’s jaws wide, feeling it’s hot breath flutter your hair. It smelled like freshly baked bread and sugary icing.

That wasn’t very comforting.

Muffet snickers again and says, “Well now don’t be rude! Go on and say hello!” Spiders from above begin to lower the thread closer to the monster’s gaping maw.

“N-no!” you shriek and try to squirm out of your constraints. Bad idea. All your wriggling causes the support thread to snap and you find yourself falling dangerously close to the eager spider-cupcake’s jaws. “Pa-Papyrus!!” you scream and squeeze your eyes shut.

His boney arms clutch around you so tight you feel your sides bruising. You peek an eye open and gasp as you see him leaping through the monsters open jaws, landing gently on the ground as its mouth slams shut. “MM-MM! MMM MM MM HM MM?” You have no idea what he tried to say, but his eye sockets glow with such concern you can’t help but smile. He summons a small, sharpened bone, and uses it to cut away your restraints.

Once you’re free you hug him tightly and say, “Wow what a great idea Paps!” You take the bone and use it to cut the webs away from his jaws, his eye sockets wide in surprise.

“WHY YES, OF COURSE, I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT! I UH JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE SAFE FIRST!”

You start to giggle, but it caught in your throat as the large monster behind Papyrus growled. Papyrus stood up in a wide stance to face the beast, his back toward you with an arm outspread protectively, and shouted, “CALL OFF YOUR PET, MUFFET!”

Muffet snickered again and opened her mouth to speak, but paused as a spider ran to her feet with a piece of paper held high. “What is this?” she whispered to the small spider as she took the note. After her many eyes flicked over the page, she glanced up at you with a questioning look. “So you donated 3G to my sisters in the ruins?”

Oh, yeah. You had done that. You blush slightly as the memory returns, and look down at your hands. “Well, um, that’s all I had at the time and I wanted to help. I couldn’t afford to buy anything…”

She jumps down off her platform and pats her pet lightly, cooing to it before she walked over to you. Papyrus tensed, but she raised up all her arms in a peaceful manner. Her smile was a lot less sinister than it had been a few moments ago. Papyrus continued to glare into her eyes as she slowly inched around him, and offered you a hand to help you up. You take it and her mouth opens slightly in surprise, like she had thought that you would’ve shunned her.

Once you’re standing, she fluffs her dress and looks at you sheepishly, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have acted so rashly.” Two of her hands cup her cheek, and another two hold her elbows as she gazes at you. “Giving all that you had…that is truly very kind of you.” Her face turns a little pink and she glances down again. “Would you be able to forgive me, human?”

She was actually kind of adorable when she wasn’t trying to kill you.

“Y-yes!” you sputter and smile, ignoring Papyrus as he shook his head at your words.

She seemed relieved and beamed at you. With a wave of her hands the threads still clinging to you and Papyrus vanished. “Thank you dearie, you really are a nice person.” She jerked a few thumbs at Papyrus and scowled. “But keep an eye or three on this one, he tends to ruin nice things.”

Papyrus stamped his foot and retorted, “I DID NOT RUIN ANYTHING! I MADE IT BETTER!”

She glared back at him and snapped, “Your stupid marinara frosting made hundreds of cupcakes inedible! Think of all the money that could’ve been made if you had just stuck to the recipe I gave you!”

Papyrus huffed and crossed his arms. “JUST BECAUSE YOU DO NOT SHARE MY CULINARY GENIUS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD’VE TIED ME UP AND LEFT ME HANGING FROM THE CEILING FOR A WEEK.”

All five of her eyes rolled and she muttered, “You’re right. I should’ve left you up there for a month.”

“HEY!”

You couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing at them. They look at you in surprise; the temporary animosity forgotten. You wipe a tear from your eye and apologize for being rude and not taking their fight seriously.

Muffet smiles, and Papyrus looks like he has been betrayed. “COME ON HUMAN! WE’RE LEAVING!” He stomps off towards the exit and Muffet giggles.

You turn to follow, but stop as something grasps your sleeve. Muffet gazes at you shyly and blushes as she releases the cloth. “You’re welcome to visit my parlor anytime you like, dearie.”

You grin warmly at her and an idea pops in your head. You dig around in your pockets, and manage to find 40G. You hand it to her and she gasps in shock. “This is all I have right now, but I hope it’ll help you get closer to saving your kin.”

She hugs you tightly with all three pairs of her arms and you wheeze. “Thank you so much human!” She squeals in delight and releases you. She waves goodbye three times over as you exit the corridor.

* * *

 

“You know, I’m actually starting to get worried now.” Mettaton says as he heaves a metallic sigh.

“is that right?” you mumble. Why won’t this goddamn bucket of bolts just shut up?

“Well, yes!” He pushes himself off the wall and strikes a dramatic pose, with one hand resting on his chest, and an arm resting on his forehead. “They haven't responded to any of my texts! I fear that my beauty may have intimidated them!”

“oh, no.” you say flatly.

Mettaton’s eyes widen as he stands way too close in front of you again. “That’s right! Oh no! What if they think that they are too ugly to be with me.” He fakes a sob as his hand returns to his face again. “Could they really think I’m that shallow? To reject a creature that is not as gorgeous as I?”

You just shrug and try to tune him out as he starts to monologue something about love. You glance around your surroundings. Everything still looked pretty stable. You sigh and gaze at the steps. The kid hadn’t made it this far in a while, but it hadn’t taken this long before. Where were they?

“sans are you listening? sans!” That annoying mechanical voice buzzed in your head again, and you scowl at him.

“what now?”

He pays you no mind and smiled, “I think I figured it out! They are silent in awe of my beauty, but they know I would never be that shallow!” He nods happily and you feel the lights within your eye sockets roll.

“Oh my goodness!!” Mettaton shrieks and the sound feels like it’s going to pierce through your skull. How could anyone listen to him? You clutch your skull as he skips excitedly towards the stairs. “My darling human!” he exclaims and reaches down towards the stairs to pull someone up.

No.

Not the kid.

Surely Mettaton was trying to woo some other human that fell down here. Yeah, that was logical.

The kid gasps in surprise as they’re pulled up by strong robotic arms, but Mettaton just giggles happily and pulls them into a dance. You faintly hear Papyrus shouting something, but you can’t help but watch as they spin and dip with Mettaton. No space between their bodies. The kid’s cheeks start to turn pink from embarrassment, or maybe something else. Oh how you wished it was you holding the human. Not the dancing part. But just…having them in your arms again…You thought you groaned quietly, but Mettaton’s eyes flickered to you and you sucked the breath back in. He smirked and locked eyes with you as he lowed his head down closer to the human’s. Everything else seemed to fade away as his tongue inched seductively closer to the human’s neck…

“SANS! SANS PUT HIM DOWN!” Papyrus shouted, snapping you back to reality.

“what?” your chest was thrumming wildly and you looked around you. Papyrus was standing in front of you, tugging on your upraised arm. The kid was sitting on the ground, eyes wide and looking up. You looked up too, and gasped. Mettaton was floating in the air with his arms crossed looking quite peeved at you. “oh i uh i’m sorry.” you mumble as you gently lower him to the ground and clutch your skull again, your phalanges slick against the bone. When did you get so sweaty?

Mettaton fluffed his hair and helped the human to their feet. Without looking at you he says, “It’s quite alright darling. Jealousy can make one do crazy things.”

“WHY WOULD MY BROTHER BE JEALOUS? HE HATES YOU.” Papyrus said simply.

Mettaton lets out a mechanical laugh as he turns to face you. His gaze not leaving yours even though he speaks to Papyrus, “Yes I know he does. And I know something that would probably make him hate me even more.”

Please don’t.

“For you see sans-“

“JUST A MOMENT!” Papyrus cuts him off as his cell phone rings and you sigh with relief. He walks a few feet away to take the call, and Mettaton strides over to you with his stupid cocky grin.

You growl through your teeth, “you better shut your mouth or you’ll have a bad time.”

“Ooo~ is that a threat? I’m shaking in my boots!”

You groan again and watch the kid. They’re a little ways away from everyone, and their eyes flicker back and forth between you and Papyrus. You could tell that they didn’t want to intrude in either conversation. You smile slightly as you watch their hands fidget with their ends of their sleeves. They always did that when they had no idea how to respond to a situation.

“You know-“ Mettaton whispers quieter and leans in closer. You hear the gears of his jaws whir as he speaks, “-all fun, fame, and flirtation aside…it’s not best to keep these kinds of feelings bottled up inside.” You glance up at him and are surprised to see genuine empathy in his eyes. He rests a hand on your clavicle, “Think of who you’re hurting by hiding what you feel.”

Your ribcage aches painfully as you glance toward the kid and Papyrus. “but who will i hurt if i tell them?” you whisper.

Mettaton shakes his head and sighs in disappointment. Once he straightens, any trace of the conversation you had has been erased from his face. He grins widely at the human and blows a kiss, chuckling as the human blushes. “So sorry my darling, but I must leave you for now! I have a new scene that must be recorded.” He saunters towards the resort’s entrance, and pauses in the doorway to give the kid one last wink. “Be sure to call me when you’re ready to have some real fun.” His eyes flicker to you once more before he disappears inside.

Papyrus returns looking unhappy and slightly scared. “I’M SORRY HUMAN, BUT UNDYNE INSISTED I GO TO HER HOUSE IMMEDIATELY.” He pouts, “SHE IS VERY ANGRY THAT I HAVE MISSED SO MANY PRIVATE LESSONS AND SHE WANTS ME TO MAKE THEM ALL UP RIGHT NOW.”

You chuckle, hoping it doesn’t sound as hollow to them as it does to you, and say, “well be careful bro or she’ll work you down to the bone.”

“Looks like she already has!” the human says, looking proud.

“nice one!” you say and lift up your hand in the air.

Papyrus cries out in frustration and the human slaps you with a hi-five.

_‘I love you, sans.’_

You pull back your hand quickly, feeling like you had been shocked, and the human looked at you curiously. Your chest starts to thrum unevenly again, but you shake it off. “better hurry, she can be real temporal-mental.” You can’t bring yourself to look at the human again, but their laugh makes you feel so happy inside. You can see in the edge of your gaze that the human has raised their hand again, but you’re afraid of what might happen if you touch them. You hate yourself as you see the hand lower and a pout form on the kid's face.

Papyrus groans and kisses the kid’s forehead lightly before heading back to Waterfall. You turn away as well, intending to take a shortcut back to Snowdin, but a small hand around your humerus stops you.

_‘I want to be with you, sans.’_

Your body shudders at the memory, and you flinch away from the kid’s grasp. They frown at you and lift up their hand again. “You owe me a hi-five sans.” they say simply.

“heh heh. right.” You lift up a shaky hand, unsure if you really want to meet their palm, but before you can flee they slap your hand again.

_You see yourself kissing the human behind a waterfall. The human laughs and playfully kicks water on your tibias. You hug them tighter until they can’t move or splash you anymore. They squeal in delight and you kiss them again._

You jerk your hand back again, and hold it to your sternum. You breathe heavily even though you have no lungs, and your chest is thrumming like crazy. The human tilts their head to the side, eyes wide with concern. “Are you ok, sans?”

“i-i’m fine!” you stutter and start to retreat.

“No you’re not!” the kid hugs you from behind, and you trip and fall to the ground. Damn this kid was determined.

Memories flood your mind as they hold you tight.

_‘I will always love you, sans.’_

_The human giggles and claps their hand behind their back. ‘Guess what we’re going to do today?’ They present a bag of microwavable popcorn and grin, ‘We’re going to stay home and watch movies all day!’_

You squirm under their grasp and try to pry them off, but they’re still holding you firmly. You feel tears soak the back of your jacket and onto your spine. “hey kid-“ you whisper and twist around to try to comfort them, but the words are lost as more memories come.

_You love how the glowing stones sparkle and shine even brighter when reflected in the human’s eyes. They turn to you and grin, ‘Guess what I’m going to wish for sans.’ You shrug and mutter, ‘i dunno, a burger?’ They giggle and give you a playful shove. ‘No! But that does sound pretty good right now.’ They stroke your mandible softly, and gaze deep into your eye sockets. ‘I wish to stay with you, sans, forever.’_

The kid finally releases you from their grip and you fall to your side, feeling completely spent. You reach up to touch your face and realize you were crying. You scrub the tears away and sit up. The kid was bawling and wiping huge tears away with their sleeves. You scoot closer to them and reach out to rest a hand on their shoulder, but you hesitate for a moment. The kid doesn’t even see you between the tears and bangs covering their face. You brace yourself for more memories and gently rest your hand on their shoulder. No more memories come. You sigh with relief.

“hey, kid. c’mon why are you crying?”

The human looks up at you, tears staining their face, and their words are broken with sobs. “Be-cause you wo-won’t tell m-m-me wh-why you’re so s-s-s-saaaad.” The human wails again and hides their face in their hands.

You try to laugh again, but fail. “i’m not sad kid, i’m fine. see?”

The human glances up, and you know your perma-grin isn’t fooling them. “Y-yes you are.” The human swallows and scrubs at their eyes again. Now that they’ve calmed down, they’re able to speak more clearly. “We’re supposed to be friends, sans. You’ve been avoiding me and you look like you’re in pain whenever I see you.”

You sigh and look away, still fully aware that your phalanges are stroking their shoulder. “i’m sorry i made you worry, but really i’m fine.”

A firm grip seizes your wrist and you turn back to the human in surprise. Their brows furrowed together as they said, “Don’t give me that crap sans. Monsters are very different from humans. They’re made of magic and their emotions can be felt by others close to them. I can _feel_ you’re in pain sans.” They release your wrist and your chest thrums rapidly. Shit. You should’ve thought of that. They glare out over Hotland and mutter, “I don’t know what to do to help you. Papyrus told me that whenever you get like this, you tend to get better on you're own and I shouldn’t worry. But you’re not getting better.”

You chuckle slightly, and rub your wrist. The human turns their gaze toward you and you smile sadly at the dirt. “i dunno what to tell ya, kid. it’s really nothing spectacular. but…if you really wanna know…”

You stand up and offer your hand to the human, helping them to their feet. You try to ignore the shiver of delight that runs down your spine as they clasp their fingers around yours. You release their hand as soon as they’re up, shove your hands in your pockets, and start to walk away with your gaze downcast.

“i guess you could say…i’ve been feeling a little…bonely…”


	11. Cryptic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed all that Papyrus fluff because it's pretty much downhill from here...heh heh...
> 
> Oh and just a friendly head's up. I do try to keep the cursing to a minimum, but it is part of my vocabulary so it comes up now and then. XD sans drops the f-bomb in this chapter. It's only once, and I hope no one is too upset by it.

“Oh no you don’t!” you shout after him and jog up to stop him. Even though you’re standing right in front of him, he refuses to look up and meet your gaze. Frustrated, you reach up to jab your finger in his sternum to make him look at you, but he flinches away from your touch. You let out an exasperated sigh and clench your fists at your sides as he continues to stare blankly at the ground. Then, you smile to yourself and smile softly at him. “Don’t give me that crypt-ic crap and then try to walk away from me.”

He finally meets your gaze with confusion glowing in the lights of his eyes. He lets out a hollow chuckle and mumbles, “did you really just make a pun?”

Crossing your arms, you say, “That seems to be the only way to talk to you sometimes.”

He chuckles again, but it sounds so empty. “yeah, i really am a bonehead aren’t i?” The way he says it now is so self-depreciating. It’s not like the sans you know.

“Don’t say that!” You reach out your hand to comfort him, but he flinches away again. Did he suddenly have a fear of cooties? You let out another frustrated sigh.

The silence between you stretches on, and he’s staring blankly at something behind you. You chew the inside of your cheek. You don’t want to leave him alone like this, but there’s not really much you can do if he refuses to talk to you. You open your mouth to say goodbye when the lights in his eye sockets suddenly focus on your face.

“are you still having fun with papyrus?” he asks.

“Uh,” you start to say, a little confused by the change of topic, but at least he’s talking. “Yeah? He’s been very kind and helped me make it here safely.” You blush slightly.

The lights in his eyes fade and he nods to himself. “good, good. that’s really good. i’m glad that he found someone that makes him happy.”

The tone of his voice doesn’t quite match what he’s saying. You tilt your head to the side, wanting to probe, but you worry that if you do he’ll shut you out again. You decide to wait for him to speak again.

He sighs, and the lights of his eyes glow dimly once more, staring into your eyes. “well, it’s unfortunate he had to leave. i got reservations for you two-“ he gestures at MTT Resort behind you, “-at the restaurant in there to celebrate making it this far. you have to reserve everything, including the silverware.” The grin on his face is slowly feeling less forced, but it’s still bitter.

You laugh softly and his grin seems to widen a bit more. “That’s really nice of you, but I’m not one for fancy places. Just get me a burg and some fries and I’m happy.” You laugh again and you swear for a moment that you see a flash of delight on his face.

“well…if you don’t mind i’d hate for the reservation go to waist-“ he winks as he gestures to his lack of one, and you roll your eyes, “-would you mind grabbing a bite to eat with me?”

Your eyes flicker back and forth between his glowing orbs. It seems like he wants to ask more, but you’re not sure what it is. Maybe if you’re sitting down with some good food, you'll be able to get him to open up.

“Sure, that sounds like fun!”

 

“Here are your menus. I’ll be back in a few to take your orders.” the waitress monster smiles sweetly as she passes out the menus and then leaves you to look over the items.

There’s way too many choices, and you have no idea what 75% of the items are. You glance up at sans to crack a joke, but it dies in your throat. He’s leaning forward with both elbows on the table, clutching his skull so tight as if he’s afraid it’ll fall apart. His eye sockets are void of any light.

“sans?” you ask nervously, but he doesn’t respond.You chew your lip and set the menu down, unsure of what to do. Let’s see. He had said he felt bonely…er…lonely? Could that be your fault? You gasp. He must mean his brother! They’ve always been so close and he hasn’t seen him for days. Papyrus would always talk about how much he adores him, and even though he had fun with you, you could tell that he missed his brother. sans must have missed him too, only he didn’t have anyone else to keep him company while Papyrus was away.

“sans?” you whisper again. You feel so bad. How could you be so selfish? Papyrus had reassured you that he was ok, and he wanted to stay with you throughout Hotland. You hadn’t even thought about sans. What kind of friend were you?

His skull falls down to the table with a thump and you jump. He holds his arms around his head, as if he’s trying to disappear. “sans?” you ask again, surprised at the hysteria creeping into your voice. The waitress glances over from a few tables over at you with an annoyed gaze. You wave her away and she just shakes her head and walks to check on another group of monsters. You stand up and lean over the table to reach out to him, your heart starting to beat faster.

* * *

It hurts. Every time the kid says your name. Why does it feel so good and wrong at the same time? You groan inwardly. You want to get out of here. You want to leave. You want to stay. Being near them… Why does it have to feel so nice? Your phalanges scrape along your skull. Why does it have to hurt so much?

You’re extremely aware of the kid as they try to get your attention, but you’re not strong enough to respond. You collapse on the table and wrap your arms around your skull, trying to drown them and your emotions out. You hear a chair scrape against the floor. Good. It might be for the best that the kid leaves.

You weren’t expecting to feel their warmth rest on top of your skull. You gasp and the thrumming within your chest halts. You should flinch away from their touch. What if more memories come back? You shouldn’t enjoy this. You shouldn’t love how it makes you feel to have them reaching out to you. Their soft skin against your skull. You really shouldn’t be reaching up to grasp their hand.

But you do.

_You’re lounging on the couch, laughing as the kid and Papyrus attempt to dance along to one of Mettaton’s shows. The kid is so uncoordinated, and Papyrus isn’t much better. Mettaton performs a hi-kick and the kid attempts to do the same. When they kick, their other foot slips and they fall into Papyrus. Papyrus yelps in surprise as they both collapse on the ground. Laughing, the kid pushes themselves up and helps Papyrus stand, then gazes at you._

_‘Come on sans! Dance with us!’ They walk over to the couch and tug on your hands._

_‘sorry, kid. you know i’m a lazybones.’ the kid pouts and you feel your grin widen._

_Papyrus collapses on the couch next to you, breathing hard. ‘HE’S JUST INTIMIDATED BY MY SUPERIOR DANCING!’ he wheezes, but still manages to give a thumbs up._

_You and the human roll your eyes and giggle quietly._

_Papyrus sits up a bit straighter. ‘WHAT IS SO FUNNY?’ he demands._

_You stand up and guide the human to sit in the space you once occupied and smiled at Papyrus. ‘nothin’ bro. it’s getting pretty late. i think bed time is in story for you.’_

_Papyrus throws back his head and groans, but he’s too tired to argue. You wave to the human as you walk Papyrus to his room upstairs. After you’ve read him his story, tucked him in, and waited for him to start to snore softly, you turn out the light and shut his door. You pause at the top of the stairs and gasp._

_The human was leaning back on the couch, eyes closed, and their head resting on the back. Their neck was still slick with sweat, and you watched their chest rise and fall as they regulated their breathing._

_They were so…amazing. You had just started to notice what a beautiful person they were recently. You didn’t realize until it was too late, the feelings that were growing within you for them. But they’d never feel the same way about you. They were human, and you were a monster. You glanced down at your skeletal hands. They were so soft and warm and sweet. But you? Cold and hard and uninviting. You wince at the sound of your bones scraping against each other as you clench your hands into fists. Disgust wells within you. You were a fool to even think they’d ever want anything to do with you._

_But still. They accepted you as a friend. You sigh as you make your way down the stairs. That would be enough. It was more than you could hope for. You settled in the couch next to them, listening as their breathing returned to its familiar rhythm. The motions of their chest became less exaggerated, but every now and then it would swell when they inhaled deeply through their mouth._

_After a while, they opened their eyes and lazily turned their head towards you. ‘I’m sorry. Do you want your spot back?’ They grin._

_‘i was about to rib ya about it, but you can occipital it as long as you like.’ You grin widely as the human groans at your puns. They still smile._

_The human sits up straighter, and raises their arms up in the air to stretch. You suck in a breath as you watch their back arch. They let their arms fall to the sides and then glance at you with a mischievous gleam in their eyes._

_‘Hey sans…would you mind if I try something…weird?’ they whisper as they lean closer to you._

_Your ribcage starts to thrum unevenly, and you feel your face start to heat. ‘uh…sure? what do you-‘_

_The human interrupts you as they press a kiss to your teeth. Your eye sockets widen in surprise, and you hear your bones rattle as you shiver in delight and surprise. The human kisses again and their giggles tickle your teeth. Your frozen where you sit, unsure of how to respond. Their lips are so warm and so soft. Your hands shake on your lap, wanting more, but afraid to move._

_The human leans away and giggles again, hand covering their mouth. ‘Sorry. I don’t know why I did that. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.’ Their cheeks darken to an adorable shade of red and they look away, embarrassed._

_They turn to stand, but squeal as you wrap one arm around their middle, and use the other to brace yourself against the armrest over their head. Leaning over them, their eyes are wide as they gaze into yours._

_‘h-hey kid?’ you stutter nervously, chest thrumming rapidly as your hand strokes their side. ‘can i try something weird too?’ you whisper, still fearing rejection._

_The human smiles softly and reaches up to cup your mandibles in their hands as they bring you closer to their face. ‘Tibia honest, I was wrong. It’s not weird.’ They press another kiss to your teeth and you moan quietly. They giggle as sparks of your magic tickle their lips._

_You sigh with delight as you listen to them giggle and squeal under your touch. You nip down their neck and massage their hip with your hand. ‘Th-that tickles!’ they exclaim in a hushed whisper, not wanting to wake Papyrus. You can’t help it. You love the sound of their laughter. It fills your bones with joy. You massage up their side as you nip along their neck again before returning to their lips, chuckling softly as they squirm and squeal beneath you. You kiss them again and it sends a tingle down your spine._

_Leaning back, you gaze down into your eyes. You still can’t believe the affection in their eyes as they look at you, slowly tracing their fingertips along your skull. They smile softly and whisper, ‘I’m so glad you feel the same way. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me because I’m human.’_

_You laugh again and lean your skull against their forehead, letting your eyes fade to darkness so you can listen to their breathing and enjoy the warmth of their body. ‘stole my line, kiddo.’ you whisper softly, ‘i was afraid you wouldn’t want me because i’m a monster.’ You hear the human giggle again and feel their body shift beneath you. They press kisses along your mandible and hug you close._

_‘We’re just a couple of boneheads aren’t we?’ They sigh and nuzzle your cervical vertebrae._

That was the first time.

The first time you kissed.

* * *

“sans? sans!” You’re panicking now. He hasn’t responded or moved for way too long. “sans! You’re hurting me!” He’s squeezing your fingers so tight you can’t pull your hand back.

You yelp in surprise as he sits up abruptly and releases his grip. The lights in his eye sockets dart around wildly before resting on you, but he’s not really seeing you. You’re sure everyone is staring at this point, but you don’t care. His eyes are wide and he looks so afraid. His ribcage is rising and falling so rapidly you would think he was hyperventilating if he had lungs.

“sans?” you whisper again and reach out to him.

The lights quickly narrow to pinpricks and he glares at you. “get the fuck away from me!” he screams and waves his hand. You cry out as his magic throws you against a wall. The air is forced from your lungs and you collapse on a table, wheezing and holding your arms around yourself. You choke on air and can’t even apologize to the monsters’ for landing in their dinners. Tears fill your eyes, starting to blind your vision, but you think for a moment you see a flash of regret on his face.

It’s gone when a waitress angrily storms up to him and snaps, “Sir, we can’t have that kind of behavior here. We’re going to have to escort you out.”

“don’t bother.” he growls and pulls his hood up, “i was just leaving.”

“W-wait!” you manage to cry out but it triggers a coughing fit. sans turns away from you and disappears in a blink of an eye.

One of the monsters sitting at the table you landed on offers you a drink, but you’re too ashamed to take it. The waitress makes her way over to you with concern written on her face. You feel the tears start to fall and run down your cheeks. Everyone is staring at you.

“I-I’m so sorry!” You sob and run out of the restaurant, bumping into monsters as your vision starts to blur.

* * *

Stupid. Why are you so stupid? You bring a whole new meaning to bonehead. Why can’t you be like everyone else? Why do you have to remember?

Why did the human forget you?

They promised to always be there for you.

You really hate promises.

You clutch your hood and pull it further over your face. You left them at the restaurant. Yet you weren’t brave enough to flee far away. You laugh at yourself. You feel like shit. It’s only fitting that you’d hide in the alleyway with all the trash.

You claw at your shirt and look down at your ribcage. How many times can it shudder and ache before it falls apart? Tears fall down your face and land on your ribs. Numbly you watch as they roll and drip down your bones. You let go of your shirt and wrap your arms around your legs, burrowing your eye sockets into your kneecaps.

Your solitary agony is short lived as you hear voices approaching the bins that hide you.

“Can you believe his pants fell down?” one of the voices laughs.

“Like oh my god I know! What a dork!” the other giggles.

“I hope we get a good haul today. I like really need some cash right now.”

“Like me too! It’s so expensive to be this fabulous!”

The voices are close now, and one of the bins scrapes on the ground as they pull it away, exposing you. They shriek as you scramble to your feet. You pull your head low and turn your face to the side.

“Oh my god Catty! Is that sans?!” the alligator girl exclaims.

Catty inches closer to you, leaning to the side to get a better look, and you turn your head further away. “Bratty! I think it is!” she confirms excitedly.

They both squeal in delight and jump up and down. “sans! We are such big fans!” Bratty says as she claps her hands in front of her.

“Like the biggest fans! Where have you been?” Catty asks as she rubs a paw against her cheek.

“busy.” you mutter and start to inch away out of the alleyway.

Bratty steps in front of you and giggles. “Oh we know that’s not true! You’re never busy!”

You sigh as Catty giggles too. “Yeah you’re like the king of doing nothing!” 

Both their eyes go wide in adoration as they ask in unison, “When will you be back to do another show?”

You snorted to yourself and push passed Bratty, “probably never. i doubt they’d want me back.”

You ignore their whines of disappointment as you exit the alleyway. You hesitate at the entrance of MTT Resort. Glancing through the doors, it feels like your bones turned to ice. The kid is sitting in the lobby, with their legs up on the bench, their face buried in their knees and their arms wrapped around them. Their shoulders are shaking and you know they’re crying. Your ribcage aches again. You want to go back. You want to apologize. You want to explain everything to them. You desperately want them to remember you.

But…you think of Papyrus as you turn away from the doors. Maybe this is what you needed. It’d be better if the kid avoided you. If they hated you.

You were already starting to hate yourself.


	12. Spider Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of a lighter chapter this time. :)

“Dearie? What are you doing here?”

You tilt your head to the side to peak with one eye and see Muffet standing over you. She was holding multiple boxes in her arms, and all of her eyes were looking at you with concern.

“I don’t know.” you mumble as you sit up straighter and scrub the tears off your face.

She sighed and set down the boxes to settle on the bench beside you. She was quiet for a moment as you stared at the floor. She cleared her throat and smiled slightly, “Was it Papyrus? My spiders wouldn’t be able to survive the cold of Snowdin, but I think I could send my pet to chase him around a bit.”

“What? No!” you gasp and look up at her with wide eyes. She covered her mouth and giggled.

“I didn’t think it was him. He can be a little…eccentric…but I don’t think he could hurt anyone.”

You smile slightly at her and say, “Yeah, he’s always been very kind to me.” You’re not really sure if you want to say more.

She waits patiently again for a few moments before speaking again, “Would you like a spider donut?” and gestures to her boxes.

“I uh don’t have any more money.”

She giggles again and hands you a donut. “Consider it it a free sample.” You accept it gratefully as you realize how hungry you were. She smiles and winks her leftmost eye. “Just don’t tell anyone or I’ll send my pet after you.”

You gasp for air as you choke on the pastry, causing her to laugh even more. “Relax I’m kidding!” You inhale deeply and thump your chest a few times as she mumbled, “Mostly.”

“Wh-What do you have all those boxes for?” you wheeze.

She grins proudly and says, “Well I’m going to talk to Mettaton about selling them in his burger emporium.” She shakes her head and all of her eyes roll. “The dunce doesn’t realize that not everyone enjoys eating sequins and glitter.”

She beams as you laugh and fluffs her dress. “Where is Papyrus?” she asked.

“He had to leave. Undyne was pretty upset he missed so many training lessons.”

Her eyes narrowed. “So he left you here all alone?”

“No! I was with uh Mettaton and-“ you hesitated, and mumbled into your donut “and a uh a friend…”

She watched you carefully, “I see. Where is your friend now?”

“Mettaton had to leave for a recording session-“

She shook her head. “No that’s not the one I mean.” She rested one of her hands on your shoulder, and used another to cup your cheek and make you look at her. “Where is the one that left you alone like this?”

Tears start to well up in your eyes again. “I don’t know.”

She sighs and pats your shoulder comfortingly. “You can talk to me dearie. We’re friends too. Aren’t we?”

You glance away from her gaze, unable to turn your head as she holds your face. She brushes away a tear that falls from your eye. “Yes we are.” You lean away from her touch and she lets you go, and smiles patiently as she waits. “My um friend has been having a really hard time lately and I tried to help-“ your voice cracks and you clear your throat. She nods for you to continue. “And well I’m not sure what I did, but when I talked to them they got mad at me and…pushed me away.” Well, technically threw.

She gasped and covered her mouth. “They did what?!”

You blush, reliving the moment and feeling humiliated all over again. “They pushed me away and yelled at me. I fell on a table and everyone was staring at me and then my uh friend left.”

“Oh, dearie!” You jump slightly in surprise as she squeezes you in a hug.

The unexpected comfort causes more tears to spill and you sob, “I just don’t know what I did to-“

She leans away and says sharply, “No. It’s not your fault. It’s never your fault when someone acts that way.” She shakes her head, voice hinting disgust, “You shouldn’t lash out at a friend because of your own pain.” She looked at you with concern again. “Are you hurt?” she asked.

“No.” you sigh and look down at the food smudged all over your sleeves. “Just humiliated and dirty.” You try to laugh, but it falls flat.

Her eyes soften and she stands up, offering you one of her hands. “Let me help you get cleaned up.”

“But I-“ you start to say, but she grabs your wrists and pulls you up.

“Sorry dearie, but I’m not accepting a no.”

She dragged you up to the front desk and spoke to the hand-face monster receptionist. “Could I please use a room to help my friend get cleaned up?”

“I am sorry but our rooms are for guests only.”

Her eyes narrowed, but her voice still sounded sweet. “Well that’s too bad. I suppose I’ll just have to sell my pastries elsewhere then.”

The hand-face flexed and waved around frantically. “Oh what I meant to saw was while normally our rooms our intended for guests, I can make an exception for a future business partner of Mettaton’s.” The hand-face muttered under their breath, “A business partner that makes the most delicious treats I’ve ever had.”

“Aw you’re very kind!” The hand-face’s palm reddened at Muffet’s words as they handed her a room key. “Thank you!”

Muffet guided you down the hall and opened the door. She pushed you towards the bathroom and said, “Once you’re undressed just toss your clothes out here. I’ll get them washed while you’re cleaning up, ok?”

“Thank you.” you mumble as you walk to the bathroom and shut the door. Leaning against it you sigh heavily. You had no idea how you felt. Mixed between the mess with sans and the kindness from Muffet. You glance down at your clothes as you start to peel them off your body. Yeah. Kind of like that.

The steam from the shower helped soothe your aching heart. After you were all cleaned up, you cautiously opened the door and peaked around it. You found your clothes waiting for you on the floor. Muffet had already cleaned them and folded them neatly for you. You glanced around the bedroom, but you didn’t see her. You dressed quickly and ran your fingers through your unruly bangs. You shrug at the mirror as you exit the bathroom. Good enough.

Muffet was waiting outside in the hallway as you left the room. She turned toward you as she heard the door open. “How are you feeling, dearie?”

“A little better.” Your smile comes easier this time. “Hey, could I ask you something?”

“Of course!” she says as she returns your smile.

“Are you the queen of spiders or something?”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Oh goodness no!” She looked at you again and was still giggling as she asked, “Why would you think that?”

“Well they all look up to you and I just thought you were their leader…” you drift off, feeling silly.

Muffet blushed and clasped two of her hands behind her back and swayed side to side. “Well I suppose I could understand why you’d think that.” She strokes her chin thoughtfully and says, “Years ago, when I was still very young, I heard about our sisters trapped in the Ruins. Some had tried to crawl under the door to escape, but they perished from the cold.” She giggled again and shook her head at herself. “I had the idea that I could raise money to find a way to save them and protect them from the ice.” Her eyes gleamed with a determined look and she clenched all of her fists in front of her. “I would bake and make the best pastries I could! And I wouldn’t stop until all of them were saved!”

You smile at her and she blushes. “That’s such a good idea!”

Her cheeks are still pink as she glances at you through the side of her eyes and says, “I’m glad you agree. It was really hard at first, but I guess the other spiders understood what I was trying to do.” She shrugged. “And I was really skilled with organization and promoting our treats, so naturally I became the leader of the cause.”

“I bet the spiders in the Ruins are really grateful for you.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “They don’t even know who I am dearie.”

“They don’t?”

She giggles and covers her mouth with one of her hands. “No, we’ve never met! But I know we will someday.” Her gaze drifts off to the side as she reminisces. “I was so happy when word was spread to the spiders that were trapped, and that they were also trying to raise money.”

“I hope they are freed soon. I’ll spread word as well and help when I can.”

Her eyes focused on you again. “Thank you, dearie.” She held out her arms again.

You hug her tight and say into her shoulder. “Thank you so much for helping me.”

She pats your head and rubs your back comfortingly. “Anytime. I’ll have a few spiders keep eyes on you too.” As you both lean away from the embrace she says, “I’m not sure what your friend needs or if you are still friends, but just remember that sometimes you can help someone without them knowing or seeing it.” She smiles warmly at you and adds, “Just be careful dearie.”

“I will. Thank you again, Muffet.” you wave goodbye and make your way to the entrance of the CORE. You dial Papyrus’ number but there’s no answer and you sigh feeling disappointed. He must be busy with the backlog of trainings.

* * *

 

The CORE is stupid. Who designed this layout? Alphys was trying her hardest to text you helpful directions, but all her blueprints seemed to be outdated. She started to sound really insecure and embarrassed, and while you told her it was ok and that you weren’t upset with her (just the maze of hallways) eventually she gave up and stopped replying. You sigh as you shove your phone in your pocket and glare at a brick that you swore you’ve passed at least 50 times by now.

After wandering around aimlessly for another 10 minutes you jump in surprise as your phone buzzes. Eagerly you retrieve it, hoping that Alphys found some updated information to share with you.

It was an Undernet update. You heave a sigh and open it. 

*ALPHYS  
-Oh, oh my goodness! What should I do?

You raise an eyebrow and debate on whether or not you should comment when another one pings your phone.

*ALPHYS  
-Ah. I hate awkward situations.

You shake your head and start to wander again, but you keep your phone in your hand in case she decides to elaborate.

*ALPHYS  
-But it does kind of remind me of this anime I saw…

You’re getting the hang of these hallways. This corridor looks different. Maybe?

*ALPHYS  
-Ugh I don’t know why Mettaton told me.

*ALPHYS  
-Omg what do I do?!

This was new. A long bridge stretching over a smokey chasm. It felt promising.

*ALPHYS  
-Should I tell them?

You enter a large door and yelp in surprise as the floor beneath you suddenly elevates. It stops at a platform and you cautiously walk toward it. The moving floor stays in place as you exit the room and enter the elevator.

*ALPHYS  
-Maybe it’d be better if I didn’t.

Everything is gray. You shiver. Everything is way too quiet. Slowly and reverently, you make your way down the narrow path. When you finally reach the end you choke out a sob that’s mixed with relief and grief. This looks so much like Toriel’s house.

*ALPHYS  
-Maybe I’ll just eat some frozen yogurt and pretend like nothing’s happened. 

You knock on the door, but no one answers. You turn the knob and find that it’s unlocked. Quietly walking in and calling out again, apologizing for intruding, you see the staircase has been blocked. There’s a note attached. It informs you that someone is in the garden and you’re welcome to visit. The note informs you where the keys are. You tilt your head to the side and wonder why there’s a chain if the person who locked it gives you the keys anyway.

Your phone rings and stops abruptly before you can answer.

You locate the keys easily and make your way down the stairs. Your eyes are still adjusting to the grayscale atmosphere.

*ALPHYS  
-I think I should say something.

Your heart aches for Toriel as you continue on. You missed her. She had been so kind to you, and you haven’t thought of her in a while. She had been so hurt to see you go, but you wished she would answer your calls.

Your phone rings again but no one is on the other end when you answer.

Now you see more gray buildings in the distance and an entrance towards the right. Before you can walk through it your phone rings again. You pick it up before the first chime can complete.

“Hello?”

“O-oh hi! Uh this is Alphys.” 

“Hey, Alphys! What’s up?” You say as you start to walk through the entrance.

“Oh um well you see…I uh have to tell you something.”

“Sure go ahead.”

“W-Well it’s um something that Mettaton told me wh-when he c-came to visit and uh…” she drifts off and starts to babble gibberish.

“What was it?” you ask patiently. She seemed really nervous. More than usual.

“W-Well it’s um just that uh…”

You gasp in surprise as you walk into a large golden corridor. You blink your eyes a few times as your vision adjust to the sudden addition of color. “Hey, Alphys? Could I call you back in a bit?” You really wanted to admire this room for a moment. You walked up to one of the stained glass windows and traced your fingers along the designs.

“B-But it’s about sans-“

“hey, kiddo.”

The voice comes from your right and you jump in shock. sans was leaning up against one of the golden pillars with a smile that seemed a bit strained. He was watching you carefully, but whenever you tried to meet his gaze, he would look away.

“Sorry, I have to go.” You say and hang up the phone.


	13. Judgment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter, but I felt like it flowed better broken up between this and the next scene.

You nervously watch as the kid shoved their phone in their pocket. You couldn’t bring yourself to look them in the eyes, but whenever you saw their head turn, you would steal a glance at their face.

They didn’t look happy to see you. At least they didn’t look pissed.

“Oh, well there you are sans.” the human says sarcastically and you shift uncomfortably.

“kid i’m sor-“

“Save it. I don’t want to hear it.” the human interrupts you, and you sigh sadly. That was fair.

“alright. we won’t talk about that right now, but i do have a few important things to say.”

“Fine.” the kid says as they let out an exasperated sigh.

You push yourself off the pillar and stand in front of them. The kid continues to glance around as you explain the Judgment hall and your role. Your voice cracks a bit as you explain the differences between LOVE and love, but the kid doesn’t seem to notice. You express your admiration at their determination and thank them for being kind to your brother, as well as all the monsters they encountered. Your voice sounds hollow and void of emotion at this point.

You inhale deeply and say, “i believe you can do the right thing. we’re all counting on you, kid. good luck.” 

The kid looks at you and you quickly look away. “Thanks, sans. I promise I’ll do my best. I really do want Papyrus’ dream to come true, and I know how much you want to reach the surface too.”

You laugh weakly and say, “thanks kid.”

You hear them approaching you and you turn away to the side. They hesitate at your back, but they don’t say anything. Just as you see them reach the exit of the hallway you call out to them, “hey, kid.”

They hesitate again, but don’t turn around. “Yes, sans?”

“i-i’m sorry about before i didn’t mean to-“

The kid shakes their head and sighs, “sans I really can’t talk about this right now. I acknowledge your apology, but I’m not ready to forgive you yet.”

Right. You watch the kid go and lean back against the pillar. Even that was more than you deserved.

You wait patiently as you know the kid is making their way to meet Asgore. They’ve never made it this far before. You shiver with a mix of worry and curiosity. Could they really make it to the surface this time?

The all too familiar ache resonates within your ribcage and you sink to the floor with a groan. You’re happy, but it’s bittersweet. Once everyone makes it to the surface, will Papyrus have time for you?

Will the human?

If they ever forgive you…

You groan again and clutch at your skull. Why did the human have to forget you? Your sternum sends a spike of pain through you again. Maybe you could tell the human how you felt after this was all over? That could help them understand your behavior and ease your pain.

But that would also hurt Papyrus.

You shake your head, dismissing the idea. Maybe they’ll break up. No. You shudder and press your forehead into your knees. You knew the pain of losing the one you loved. How could you ever wish that on your brother? Or the human?

Your bones ached with pain and you clutched at your sides. This might finally be the time you fall apart completely. The kid had remembered past timelines before, but why had they suddenly forgotten everything after your timeline with the human? Was it because they wanted to? You choke back a sob. Did they not want to remember falling in love with you?

You chuckle quietly to yourself without feeling as tears begin to fall. Why were you worrying so much about this? Everything could just be reset again anyway. It’s not like anything that happened really mattered.

Although, things only reset when the human was involved. Generally that only happened if the human chose to, but they wouldn’t do that. They were happy with Papyrus.

The other reason however…no. You wouldn’t let yourself finish that thought. You stand up quickly and pace back and forth across the floor, furious with yourself. How could you even begin to entertain that idea? You glance back forlornly at the exit where the human had stood just moments ago. It’s ok if they hated you from this moment on. Hell, it’d be amazing if they tolerated you after what you did at the restaurant. You couldn’t let yourself hope or want for anything more. You shove your hands in your pockets and returned to your pillar, this time resting your forehead against the cool stone.

If only you could have one more chance. You wouldn’t interfere with them wanting to be with Papyrus, but you just wanted one more chance. If only they had remembered you too. Maybe the rejection wouldn’t hurt as much if they had known that you had been something before. You press your skull harder into the stone to distract yourself from the pain within your ribcage. At the very least you wanted to be able to take the night at the restaurant back. You were such a bonehead.

You chuckle darkly and wince at the sound of bone grinding against stone. There you go again. Wishing for a reset. Did you really want to live the same memories over and over again?

Yes.

Even if you couldn’t change the path, you still wanted to walk down it again and again. It genuinely made you happy to see the human and Papyrus together. You could become stronger and let go of your own feelings. Or at the very least you could become numb and give up completely. You just wanted their friendship back. You wanted to relive the countless nights that you, Papyrus, and the human spent hanging out in Snowdin. You wanted to laugh with them as you team up against Papyrus with bad jokes. You wanted to watch the kid and Undyne cook and listen to them explain the recipe. You wanted to fall asleep on the couch as the kid and Alphys stayed up late to watch anime. You wanted to come down the stairs after another sleepless night to find them snuggled up with Papyrus, passed out on the couch, and quietly cover them with a blanket. You even wanted to relive the moments with Mettaton again.

No.

You truly do want the resets to end. You want the human to be happy. You want the monsters to be free. You want to see the surface. You want to continue to make new memories. You want Papyrus to realize his dream and drive a car down a highway. You desperately want to see the sun and stars. You want things to matter. You don’t want everything to just disappear and fade away again. You didn’t want to be selfish. You truly loved the kid. You wanted them to live a happy life. You didn’t want anyone to be stuck in this eternal loop anymore.

You look down at your shaking hands and grit your teeth so hard your jaw stings. You could live with this. You could let go of your feelings. You could stop caring about them. You’ve stopped caring about so much already. This was how it was supposed to be. They had never gotten this far before until Papyrus had fallen for them on their first date.

You could handle this. You had to. For Papyrus, and the human. You tuck your shaking hands under your arms to stop them. You had to do this. You had to be stronger. You had to make yourself stop caring. You laugh weakly. You’ve never had to work this hard in your life.

Because if you couldn’t…well…you were in for a bad time. This was how things were meant to be, that much was clear. Dark thoughts swirl within your mind again, and you feebly try to banish them. You don’t want to be selfish or cruel. You’d accept the pain if it meant the resets would end. It’d be better to suffer alone than to wish that on anyone else. You cast your gaze upwards as tears fall freely from your eye sockets.

Because the only way things would change…

The only way you’d ever have a chance to start over…

The only way you’d be able to be close to the human again…

Is if the human di-

A scream of agony echoed within the corridor, sliced through your tormented thoughts, and cut straight to your soul.

Oh god no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I'm a brat and I love making cliffhangers. XD


	14. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so fun fact about me. I can't leave cliffhangers to...hang for very long lol. It just keeps itching in the back of my mind demanding that I finish it.
> 
> Also I'm sorry that it's so short. :/
> 
> Lastly the title is inspired by the game. I do have at least one more chapter planned.

Screams continue to echo around you as you struggle to teleport to the throne room. You can’t focus on your magic, but the small rushes you manage are faster than running. Eventually you make it to the throne room, magic almost depleted, and sprint through the garden to the room beyond it. Another blood curdling scream sends ice down your spine, but it’s cut short.

Ribcage heaving, you make it to the barrier and fall to your knees. Oh my god. You open your jaws to cry out in horror, but no sound came.

The kid’s body is run through with Asgore’s trident. Blood is gushing from their throat, and they try to cry out, but it just sound like a gurgled mess. Asgore is shaking as he removes the trident from their body. You wince at the squelch as the prongs leave the kid’s chest. They collapse onto the floor, and blood pools around their body. Asgore drops the trident with a clang and holds his head in his hands. 

“I’m so sorry. My child, I’m so sorry.” he weeps as he falls to his knees.

His words fade into the background as you stare at the kid’s lifeless body. This can’t be happening. Why did it end here? The kid and Papyrus were so happy together. The kid was loved by everyone in the Underground. They had done everything right. They made it so far and you really believed they could make it to the surface this time.

The world quivers around you, and you shudder as the walls flicker between substance and nothing at all. So everything is resetting. Again. Asgore sobs and reaches out to the human’s body, apologizing once more and trying to explain why they had to die.

A line of blood trickles toward you and Asgore fades into the shadows. Your body is racked with grief and you feel it build up where your throat would be. Your sobs are painful, and your skull is pounding, but your gaze never leaves the kid. The world begins to crumble and fade away in the edges of your vision. Your ribcage aches, and you silently will the kid to get back up again.

But they don’t.

“please kid…don’t give up…” you whisper as more walls crack and break.

“kid…think of papyrus…he needs you…” The floor around you shatters and falls away into the abyss that now surrounds you.

“please…please don’t go kid…” Everything fades to black until there is nothing left but the floor beneath your knees and the kid’s body.

You see the human’s soul slowly leave their broken form. No, please no. Don’t let this be the end. The heart quivers in the air and you reach out to it. “kid…please don’t leave again…” The heart shudders, and a crack splits it in two. No. More cracks form and the heart dissolves into pieces. “kid!” you cry out through your tears as their body falls into the abyss, fading away into the darkness.

You’re alone.

You let out another agonizing sob and weep freely now, wrapping your arms around your sides and clutching at your jacket. You press your forehead to the last remaining tiles in front of you and scream.

Why? 

Why did they die?

Why did everything reset again?

If only you hadn’t been so selfish. You should’ve let go of your feelings during their first date with Papyrus. You claw at your ribs as your body shakes with another howl of pain. You should’ve let go of hope the moment they forgot you.

This isn’t what you wanted. You just wanted the human to be happy. Whether it was with you, Papyrus, hell even Mettaton, or no one at all. You didn’t care anymore. You’ve given up.

Whatever the human wants. Whether they want to stay in the Underground, or return to the surface. Whether they love you or want nothing to do with you. You choke on another rib-cracking sob.

You just want them to be happy.

You don’t want to see them in pain anymore.

You don’t want to see them die.

You don’t want to be trapped in these resets.

It hurts to be forgotten, but it hurts like hell to see the ones you love suffer. You’ve never seen Papyrus so happy since he met the kid. Alphys had started to feel more comfortable being around others after the human came. Maybe they would’ve helped Undyne and Alphys finally confess their feelings for each other. Even that damn tin can Mettaton wasn’t as self centered when it involved the kid.

You fall to the side and inhale a shaky breath as you wait to fall into the abyss. You were done being selfish. You could never stop loving the kid, but you wouldn’t do anything about it. However, you couldn’t be completely selfless. You sigh deeply and throw your wish out into the shadows.

“please…let me be their friend again…”

The ground underneath you disappears and numbness consumes you as you fall. Even if your wish didn’t come true, that’s fine. Nothing ever really mattered. You just want these loops to end, and you want your brother and friends to be happy. It’s alright if you were left alone in misery. 

You just couldn’t afford to care anymore.


	15. New Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, but it got pretty dark here. Please don't hate me. We've also almost reached 300 kudos! Yay!!! I feel even more like an asshole putting you all through this!! Hehe :)
> 
> I haven't forgotten about the sequel to the Pacifist ending. I was just having a hard time thinking of a story that was fluffy, but still interesting. I actually thought about intertwining it with this story (not nearly as angsty, more of the love triangle thing), so the reader and sans can both redeem themselves of their past sins if they want to be a couple (or perhaps the reader could end up with another monster). Heck, if I'm super motivated and ambitious maybe I could write various chapters where the reader ends up with different monsters. It sounds like a major project, and I don't want to get it started until I know I can get a good handle on it and finish it.
> 
> I also had a bit of angsty inspiration in my mind (this is the part where you all gasp in shock like you had no idea) and I didn't want that to drift into a story that's mainly supposed to be happy.

_  
Dark._

_It’s so dark._

_Why is it so dark?_

_You shiver and a wave of pain blossoms within your chest._

_My body._

_It hurts._

_Why does it hurt?_

_You run your hands along your chest, and feel no wounds but pain sears underneath your fingertips._

_You whimper into the shadows._

_Where am I?_

_Why am I here?_

_You pull your legs up to your chest and curl up in a ball._

_What is this place?_

_It’s so quiet…_

_You whimper again and call out in a shaky voice, “Papyrus?”_

_Only your voice echoes in your ears._

_“Alphys?”_

_“Undyne?”_

_“M-mettaton?”_

_You feel the hysteria grow within your voice and you swallow the lump in your throat._

_“Toriel?”_

_You shiver at the sound of your cries and fall to the side._

_You’re alone._

_“sans?” you whisper._

_But nobody came._

_You cry quietly in the darkness. You can’t sense anything but the pain within your chest and tears falling down your face. You don’t know how you got here. You don’t know how long you’ve been here._

_You’re not even completely sure if you’ve ever known anything besides this void._

_Whimpering, you rock back and forth and talk to yourself. You want to hear something. Anything. Even if it’s just the sound of your own frightened voice._

_“I’m alone.”_

_“I’m alone.”_

_“I’m lost.”_

_“It hurts.”_

_“My chest hurts.”_

_“I’m alone.”_

_You stop with a shiver down your spine and everything falls to silence once more. Even your own voice did nothing to offer comfort. You bury your face behind your knees._

_“You really are an idiot aren’t you?” A voice echoes around you, each word reverberating from a different direction._

_Your heart leaps to your throat and you untangle yourself, eyes darting around. But there’s nothing._

_There’s no one here._

_The voice cackles, “Yep, you’re just a stupid little fool.”_

_“Who’s there?” You call out, voice cracking from your throat, raw from crying._

_Cackling echoes all around you. Sometimes it’s far away and difficult to hear. Other times it’s so close to your face you flinch away out of reflex. This makes the voice laugh more._

_“That’s not important right now. I’m here to talk to you. You idiot.”_

_“I don’t think I want to talk to you.” you whine._

_“Too bad. I can’t let you live on in ignorance anymore, it’s incredibly dull.”_

_“What do you mean?” You suddenly miss the soul-crushing empty void._

_The voice cackles again, and whispers in your ear, “Why about you and your so called friends of course.”_

_You wince but the voice continues, “Honesty how stupid can you be? It would surprise me, but I’ve seen the same thing so many times now.” It sighs and the voice shifts to your other ear, “How many times are you going to let them kill you before you realize they’re not really your friends?”_

_“What?” you squeak and scoot blindly away from the voice._

_It follows you and talks to you in condescending tones, “Really? You don’t remember?” It snorted and laughed again. “Well let me help you remember then. Let’s see-“ It paused for a moment, “Do you remember that time when Undyne pinned you down and stabbed you through the heart?”_

_The pain within your chest reawakens and you clutch just above your heart, gasping for air. “N-no.” You lie._

_“Ah, what about the time your precious Papyrus snapped your neck on ‘accident’ with one of his bone attacks?” The voice asks sarcastically._

_The back of your head begins to throb, shooting pain in your skull and down your neck._

_The voice doesn’t wait for you to respond. “Or how about when Mettaton fried your body with his lasers?”_

_You scream in agony as you feel your skin burn at the memory._

_“Toriel abandoned you in the ruins. She said she cared about you, but she left you all alone without even bothering to tell you how to fight.” the voice sneered, “And then she kicked you out of the ruins to freeze to death.”_

_That…that doesn’t seem right, but your burning flesh is now aching with the cold and you don’t have the strength to argue._

_“Even sans attacked you. Do you remember that? Your ‘friend’ attacked you when you were trying to help him.”_

_sans…sans attacked you…_

_You shake your head furiously and shout, “Stop it! I don’t want to remember what happened in the past! They’re my friends!” You were determined to remember the happy memories you shared._

_The voice sighs in irritation, “Are you sure about that?”_

_You weren’t really._

_The voice continues, “Don’t you remember what Undyne said? What Asgore said?”_

_Yes, you did._

_“You stand in the way of everyone’s hopes and dreams. They don’t care about you. They just want your soul.”_

_“B-but Undyne spared me and said she’d take another soul-“_

_The voice cackles too close to your face again. You wince, but feel no breath against your face. “Do you really think she would? They need seven souls and they have six. Why would they pass up such an opportunity when they’re so close? Just because you’re friendly?” The voice scoffs, “As if you’re that special.”_

_“Shut up!” You scream and hold your head in your hands._

_The voice only laughed and whispered behind your head, sending chills down your neck, “But you know what I’m saying is true. Why are you fighting so hard against me?”_

_You bit your lip and squeeze your eyes shut despite the darkness that surrounds you. Please just let this voice go away. You want to be alone again._

_“They don’t care about you.” The voice says from your right._

_“They don’t love you.” The voice echoes from your left._

_“They lied to you.” You shiver as the voice taunts you at your back._

_“They betrayed you.” The voice snickers as you wince away._

_“Do you know why they fooled you?” The voice asks, settling once more in front of your face._

_“No.” you respond weakly, knowing the voice will tell you anyway._

_It does._

_“Because they wanted you to believe you were friends.”_

_“They wanted you to believe they cared about you.”_

_“They wanted you to feel loved.”_

_“Do you know why?” it asked simply again._

_“No.” you whisper._

_The voice sighs softly. It’s words become sharp and sinister as it answers, “Because they want your soul. That’s all you are to them. A ticket to freedom. And a soul is strengthened with love, friendship, and happiness. Imagine how much power they could get from you if you continued on in ignorant bliss until they stabbed you in the back.”_

_“P-please. S-stop.” You sob, “Y-your words are h-h-hurting me. S-stop.”_

_The voice sighs once more, but it’s voice becomes comforting. “I’m only trying to help you understand. Let me help you.”_

_“N-no.” You’re afraid._

_The voice laughs softly, but is no longer mocking or insulting you. “Let me help you, you fool. They’re monsters and that’s all they’ll ever be.”_

_“I-I don’t-“_

_The voice settles next to you again, and whispers like an old friend, “It’s alright. I’ll show you. Let me teach you the rule of this world.”_

_Suddenly, a flash of light glows in front of your eye lids and the darkness melts away. You’re being lifted toward the light, and the voice starts to fade beneath you. “You’ll understand.”_

_Your vision whites out and you gasp in surprise, shielding your eyes._

_“It’s kill or be killed.”_

__

* * *

“Howdy!” A cheerful voice wakes you.

You groan and push yourself up and look around, bleary-eyed. You’re lying in a bed of yellow flowers. One of them is smiling and waving a leaf at you.

“Uh-“ you start to say, and the flower snickers.

“I said howdy! My name’s Flowey!”

You quickly stand up and brush off your pants, glancing around again with disgust. “Where am I Flowey?”

“You fell into the Underground! You must be new here!”

You turn to the flower and snarl. “Would you just shut up with that fake cheery attitude you stupid weed?”

Flowey looks taken aback for a moment, but his face changes quickly to a knowing smirk. “I see. It looks like you finally learned the truth about this world.” The dirt in front of him churns, and vines emerge holding a knife. Nice one, weed. “Here. Go have some fun.” He disappears into the ground as you grasp the hilt.

You click your tongue in approval. The weed even wound some vines around it in a makeshift scabbard allowing you to tie it to your forearm and hide it under your sleeve. You sheath the weapon just as a goat monster happens upon you.

“Oh goodness!” Her hand flies to her mouth in surprise. “Are you lost, my child?” Her eyes wide with concern.

You close your eyes for a moment, and then smile sweetly. “Yes, I fell down. I’m scared.”

“You poor thing. Here, please come with me and we’ll get you cleaned up.” You accept her hand and let your smile fall as she turns away to guide you through the ruins.

You tilt your head back and sigh as she drags you along, jabbering on and on about puzzles and how unsafe it is to wander around. She gestures to a dummy and wants you to talk to it. You roll your eyes and punch it straight in the makeshift face. You squeal in delight as what is probably its head falls to the floor. She gasps in shock and scolds you. Hm, perhaps you should be more discreet next time.

You try your best to feign interest as she continues to talk, and nod your head now and then. You breathe a sigh of relief when she leaves you to walk down a long hallway alone. That relief is short lived however, as she jumps out from behind the only pillar in the corridor. God dammit. You force yourself to giggle and hug her. So happy to see you again, Toriel.

“I’m so sorry, but I need to go take care of something my child. Will you wait here for me?” She asks sweetly. Oh, no. Please don’t go. 

“I’m sure I’ll be ok.” You try to hide your eagerness in your voice. Please just leave already.   
“Ok, let me give you a cell phone.” She hands you the device and smiles. “Just call me if you need anything, ok?”

“Yup.” You reply as she finally turns to go.

“And don’t leave this room. There’s still more puzzles that I haven’t explained yet, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Uh huh.” You reply, finding it hard to not sound dismissive.

As soon as she leaves you walk out of the room. As if you were going to sit around and wait for her to come back. You were going to have some fun.

You laugh with glee as you catch another Froggit from behind and it lets out a startled croak before dissolving into dust. Stupid things were far too unaware of their surroundings.

Toriel calls to ask if you’ve left the room. You lie and say that you were behaving.

You insult and mock the Whimsun and Loox until they’re reduced to tears and can’t see the blade coming for them.

Vegetoids are the easiest. Just simple veggies, and you’ve chopped up plenty in your day.

She calls again to ask if you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch, and you cheerfully reply that you enjoy both. She seemed happy with that.

Moldsmall were a little tricky at first. Their gelatinous bodies weren’t affected by the knife, and they'd just jiggle and shudder each time you stabbed. You resorted to stepping on them and grinding them into the ground with your heel until they could no longer keep their forms together.

She calls again and asks if you have any allergies, and sighs with relief when you inform her that you do not.

Migosp were pretty dull too. All you had to do was promise to leave them alone, and once you got behind them you ran your blade through their backs.

You strut through the ruins, nodding and feeling quite pleased to see all the puzzles have been solved with vines growing out of the ground and in the walls. Not bad, weed.

You tuck the blade into your sleeve again, and reach a dying tree. You see Toriel pull out her cell phone, probably to call you and ask something stupid again, but she freezes when she sees you.

“My child! How did you get here?” she runs to you and rests her hands on your shoulders.

“I got scared all alone.” you pout and widen your eyes.

“Oh forgive me! I didn’t mean to take so long. I just wanted to surprise you.” She takes your hand and leads you to her home. This was too easy. “Let’s get you all cleaned up for dinner.”

She shows you a room and informs that it will be yours. You try your best to not flinch away as she ruffles your hair affectionately. She runs to the kitchen at the smell of something burning, and you scowl at her back. Entering the room, you see nothing of particular interest at first, but that bed sure looks inviting. May as well take a quick nap.

You wake to a sickeningly sweet smell, and you see a slice of pie waiting for you on the floor. You grumpily get out of bed and pick up the plate, taking it over to the small waste bin in the room. You smirk as you watch the dessert slide off the plate and fall with a splat into the bin.

You exit the room and scrub your eye, yawning wide. “Toriel?” you call sweetly.

“I’m in the living room, my child.” 

You smile happily and let your arms sway lazily side to side as you walk to her. Stopping in front of her, you hold out your plate and do you best to imitate puppy-dog eyes. “Toriel could I please have some more of your yummy Cinnamon-Butterscotch pie?”

Her face glows with delight as she takes the plate from you and heads to the kitchen. “Of course my child! I’m so glad you like it!”

Just as she reaches the entrance to the kitchen you call out again, “Hey, Toriel?” Damn you were getting good at this feigning innocence thing. You hold your arm behind your back, release the blade, and let it slide down until you grasp the hilt in your palm.

She hesitates and turns her head back slightly. “Yes, my child?”

“Can I call you mom?”

She stumbles in surprise a bit, and starts to turn around. Good. You caught her off guard. You lunge forward, and tackle her to the ground before she can catch her balance. The plate falls to the floor and shatters. You smirk as she looks at you in shock, but still not knowing what your intentions are.

You hold the blade high above your head, your smile growing wider as the gleam in her eye begins to turn into horror.

“My child, where did you get that?” she whispers.

You laugh as you drive the blade deep within her chest and she cries out in pain.

“Wh-why…” she keens as tears fall down her face. Her body falls flat on the ground as her soul shatters. You watch as her body crumples into dust before retrieving your weapon, wiping the remains on a dishtowel nearby.

“Because I LOVE you, Toriel.” You snicker as you kick at the dust and sheath your blade.

Your laughter increases as you watch the dust swirl and settle with each kick. Soon your whole body is shaking with maniacal laughter. You clutch at your head and laugh towards the ceiling.

You were going to kill every last one of these disgusting monsters. You wanted their dust to coat the Underground floor.

And thus begins the first run of…

Genocide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lastly, I have thought of a potential one shot or sequel for this story (with some inspiration from my lovely friend Treeni) and would probably write that next if there was interest in it. Still have some angsty vibes bouncing around my head.
> 
> Let me know if that's something you guys are up for :p


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